Modeling and design optimization for pleated membrane filters

Abstract

Pleated membrane filters, which offer larger surface area to volume ratios than unpleated membrane filters, are used in a wide variety of applications. However, the performance of the pleated filter, as characterized by a flux-throughput plot, indicates that the equivalent unpleated filter provides better performance under the same pressure drop. Earlier work (Sanaei & Cummings 2016) used a highly-simplified membrane model to investigate how the pleating effect and membrane geometry affect this performance differential. In this work, we extend this line of investigation and use asymptotic methods to couple an outer problem for the flow within the pleated structure to an inner problem that accounts for the pore structure within the membrane. We use our new model to formulate and address questions of optimal membrane design for a given filtration application. *

Optimising the flow through a concertinaed filtration membrane

“…(2016) and Sun et al. (2020) model the flow and blocking mechanisms in pleated devices, adopting the assumption of Darcy flow throughout the whole domain composed of rectangular pleats. The focus of these works was to find the filter design that optimised the lifetime of the filter accounting for transient blocking dynamics.…”

Geometrical Influence on Particle Transport in Cross-Flow Ultrafiltration: Cylindrical and Flat Sheet Membranes

“…where κ is the mean Darcy permeability of the membrane [40][41][42], averaged over its thickness h. Notice the logarithmic curvature correction for a cylindrical membrane (CM), which matters since R and h are of comparable magnitude in UF [8].…”

Role of caking in optimizing the performance of a concertinaed ceramic filtration membrane

“…Recently in Ref. [9], the authors presented a model of internal blocking within an analogous device of rectangular pleats contained in porous support material. The authors compared linear, quadratic, and cubic membrane permeability profiles with the aim of maximizing the total amount of fluid processed through the filtration device.…”