Steady three-dimensional flows past hollow fiber membrane arrays – cross flow arrangement

Hollow fiber membrane (HFM) modules are among the most common separation devices employed in membrane separation applications. Three-dimensional steady-state computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations are carried out to study flow past hollow fiber membrane banks (HFMB). The current study investigates the effects of flow behavior on membrane performance during binary mixture separations. Carbon dioxide (CO2) removal from methane (CH4) is examined for various arrangements of HFMs in staggered and inline configurations. The common HFM module arrangement is the axial flow configuration. However, this work focuses on the radial cross-flow configuration. The HFM surface is a functional boundary where the suction rate and concentration of each species are coupled and are functions of the local partial pressures, the permeability, and the selectivity of the HFM. CFD simulations employed the turbulent k–ω shear stress transport (SST) model to study HFM performance for Reynolds numbers, 200 ≤ Re ≤ 1000. The efficiency of the inline and staggered arrangements in the separation module is evaluated by the coefficient of performance and the rate of mass flow per unit area of CO2 passing across the membrane surface. This work demonstrates that the module with staggered arrangement outperforms the module with the inline arrangement.