Performance Improvement of a Centrifugal Pump Filtration System for Industrial and Domestic Applications

Abstract

Several filtration problem are reported in a centrifugal pump during operation in both domestic and industrial application. This problem have leads to membrane fouling that often leads to pump cavitation and other mechanical malfunctioning. Membrane technology were reported to be more promising in filtration process during centrifugal pump operation, though few problem of membrane fouling are still persisting which need further investigation. Critical parameters that affect membrane performance such as transmembrane pressure drop, pressure variation, density, flow of viscous fluid without impurities and flow of pure water was tested during modelling and simulation process. This was done to prevent the current problem of membrane fouling during pump operation. The design membrane simulated in this study was tested theoretically based on the experimental set up of a centrifugal pump. The testing and simulating process takes into account all physical parameters that affect membrane fouling during pump operation. The flow of pure water through the membrane was modelled theoretically using solid works and the major variables that impacted the separability was tested for optimal performance during filtration process without the occurrences of membrane fouling. The following facts were theoretically revealed by the simulated results. It was shown that a rapid decrease in flux was caused by concentration of polarisation during filtration process. It was also shown that membrane fouling increase membrane resistance and causes restriction to the transmission of the pure water and impurities during filtration. It was also revealed that the smaller the thickness of the membrane surface, the lower the rate at which the volumetric flux decreases during filtration. It was also shown that membrane viscosity increases with increasing pressure during performance. It was however revealed that pure water were able to be separated from impurities and the internal friction forces decreased during pump operation with little tendency of fouling being reported. It was also revealed that, although impurities were trapped on the membrane surface during pump operation, the higher resistance in the membrane surface the higher the possibility of membrane fouling during pump operation.