Modeling and simulation of osmotic pressure controlled electro-ultrafiltration in a cross-flow system

Modeling and subsequent simulation of electric field enhanced ultrafiltration (UF) under osmotic pressure controlled regime in a rectangular channel under laminar flow conditions is presented herein. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) at pH 7.4 in 0.15 M NaCl solution is considered as the system. The analysis is carried out under the framework of boundary layer theory in conjunction with the electro-kinetic phenomena for a colloidal solution. Important effects due to the interaction between charged macro- and micro-particles with the solvent, e.g. viscoelectric effects, variation of diffusivity and Debye length with concentration, etc. have been incorporated in the model. It has been observed that the external dc electric field has a significant effect on the permeate flux and permeate concentration. A parametric study has been carried out to observe the effects of different operating conditions on the system performance.