CFD and experimental studies of fouling of a microfiltration membrane

This paper reports Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and experimental studies on microfiltration fouling of a Blue Indigo solution. A hydrophilic Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) membrane was used and experiments were carried out at three cross-flow velocities of 0.5, 1 and 1.3 m s−1. The fouled membranes were analyzed using simple photographs and precise Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) micrographs. A 3-D CFD modelling was carried out using the commercial CFD code, FLUENT6.2. The predicted shear stress distributions upon the membrane were used to explain the observed fouling. In addition, the particles deposition pattern upon the membrane surface was predicted using discrete phase modelling.