Search results for: membrane bioreactors

Authors: P. Worathanakul, P. Kongkachuichay

Abstract:

A new SUZ-4 zeolite membrane with tetraethlyammonium hydroxide as the template was fabricated on mullite tube via hydrothermal sol-gel synthesis in a rotating autoclave reactor. The suitable synthesis condition was SiO2:Al2O3 ratio of 21.2 for 4 days at 155 °C crystallization under autogenous pressure. The obtained SUZ-4 possessed a high BET surface area of 396.4 m2/g, total pore volume at 2.611 cm3/g, and narrow pore size distribution with 97 nm mean diameter and 760 nm long of needle crystal shape. The SUZ-4 layer obtained from seeding crystallization was thicker than that of without seeds or in situ crystallization.

Keywords: Membrane, seeding, sol-gel, SUZ-4 Zeolite.

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Authors: Mohamed F. Awad, M. Kraume

Abstract:

Thirty six samples from each (aerobic and anoxic) activated sludge were collected from two wastewater treatment plants with MBRs in Berlin, Germany. The samples were prepared for count and definition of fungal isolates; these isolates were purified by conventional techniques and identified by microscopic examination. Sixty tow species belonging to 28 genera were isolated from activated sludge samples under aerobic conditions (28 genera and 58 species) and anoxic conditions (26 genera and 52 species). The obtained data show that, Aspergillus was found at 94.4% followed by Penicillium 61.1 %, Fusarium (61.1 %), Trichoderma (44.4 %) and Geotrichum candidum (41.6 %) species were the most prevalent in all activated sludge samples. The study confirmed that fungi can thrive in activated sludge and sporulation, but isolated in different numbers depending on the effect of aeration system. Some fungal species in our study are saprophytic, and other a pathogenic to plants and animals.

Keywords: Activated sludge, membrane bioreactors, aerobic, anoxic conditions, fungi

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Authors: M. Kumpugdee-Vollrath, T. Subongkot, T. Ngawhirunpat

Abstract:

In this project we are interested in studying different kinds of shed snake skins in order to apply them as a model membrane for pharmaceutical purposes instead of human stratum corneum. Many types of shed snake skins as well as model drugs were studied by different techniques. The data will give deeper understanding about the interaction between drugs and model membranes and may allow us to choose the suitable model membrane for studying the effect of pharmaceutical products.

Keywords: DSC, FTIR, permeation, SAXS, shed snake skin.

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Authors: Wenyuan Ye, Jiuyang Lin, Patricia Luis, Bart Van der Bruggen

Abstract:

This study addresses the effect of impurities on the crystallization of Na2CO3 produced within a strategy for capturing CO2 from flue gases by alkaline absorption. A novel technology - membrane assisted crystallization - is proposed for Na2CO3 crystallization from mother liquors containing impurities. High purity of Na2CO3•10H2O crystals was obtained without impacting the performance of the mass transfer of water vapor through membranes during crystallization.

Keywords: Carbon dioxide recovery, crystal morphology, membrane crystallization, purity.

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Authors: Supavej Maniyom, Gerard H. Markx

Abstract:

Three reactor types were explored and successfully used for pigment production by Monascus: shake flasks, and shaken and stirred miniaturized reactors. Also, the use of dielectric spectroscopy for the on-line measurement of biomass levels was explored. Shake flasks gave good pigment yields, but scale up is difficult, and they cannot be automated. Shaken bioreactors were less successful with pigment production than stirred reactors. Experiments with different impeller speeds in different volumes of liquid in the reactor confirmed that this is most likely due oxygen availability. The availability of oxygen appeared to affect biomass levels less than pigment production; red pigment production in particular needed very high oxygen levels. Dielectric spectroscopy was effectively used to continuously measure biomass levels during the submerged fungal fermentation in the shaken and stirred miniaturized bioreactors, despite the presence of the solid substrate particles. Also, the capacitance signal gave useful information about the viability of the cells in the culture.

Keywords: Chinese pearl barley, miniature submerged culture, Monascus pigment, biomass, capacitance.

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Authors: Bhausaheb L. Pangarkar, M.G. Sane, Saroj B. Parjane, Mahendra Guddad

Abstract:

The possibility of producing drinking water from brackish ground water using Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process was studied. It is a rising technology for seawater or brine desalination process. The process simply consists of a flat sheet hydrophobic micro porous PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum pump without a condenser for the water recovery or trap. In this work, VMD performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution and natural ground water. The influence of operational parameters such as feed flow rate (30 to 55 l/h), feed temperature (313 to 333 K), feed salt concentration (5000 to 7000 mg/l) and permeate pressure (1.5 to 6 kPa) on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux have been investigated. The maximum flux reached to 28.34 kg/m2 h at feed temperature, 333 K; vacuum pressure, 1.5 kPa; feed flow rate, 55 l/h and feed salt concentration, 7000 mg/l. The negligible effects in the reduction of permeate flux found over 150 h experimental run for salt water. But for the natural ground water application over 75 h, scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and 29% reduction in the permeate flux over 75 h. This reduction can be eliminated by acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in apply of VMD for the ground water purification over today-s conventional RO operation.

Keywords: VMD, hydrophobic PTFE flat membrane, desalination, ground water

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Authors: S. Bokka

Abstract:

Fiber filter membranes have a high surface area-to-volume ratio and high porosity making them ideal for various filtration and separation applications. Using the conventional filter membrane, a filtration efficiency of > 95% can be achieved. Specific applications such as air and fuel filtration require nearly 100% filtration efficiency, which is harder to achieve using conventional filter membranes. To achieve high filtration efficiencies additional costs are incurred due to increasing the cost of membrane and operating cost. Due to the simultaneous electrostatic attraction and mechanical capture, the electret filters have shown nearly 100% filtration efficiency. This article presents an overview of the charged filter membrane, its applications, and a discussion on factors contributing to increasing charge.

Keywords: Charged fiber membrane, piezoelectric materials, filtration, polymeric materials.

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Authors: Mohammed Nasir Kajama, Ngozi Claribelle Nwogu, Edward Gobina

Abstract:

Pt/γ-Al2O3 membrane catalysts were prepared via an evaporative-crystallization deposition method. The obtained Pt/γ- Al2O3 catalyst activity was tested after characterization (SEM-EDAX observation, BET measurement, permeability assessment) in the catalytic oxidation of selected volatile organic compound (VOC) i.e. propane, fed in mixture of oxygen. The VOC conversion (nearly 90%) obtained by varying the operating temperature showed that flow-through membrane reactor might do better in the abatement of VOCs.

Keywords: VOC combustion, flow-through membrane reactor, platinum supported alumina catalysts.

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Authors: Thidarat Wongsawa, Ura Pancharoen, Anchaleeporn Waritswat Lothongkum

Abstract:

The separation of silver ions from medicinal wastewater via hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM) was examined to promote the performance of this technique. The wastewater consisting of 30mg/L silver ions and 120mg/L ferric ions was used as the feed solution. LIX84I dissolving in kerosene and sodium thiosulfate pentahydrate solution were used as the liquid membrane and stripping solution, respectively. In order to access the highest performance of HFSLM, the optimum condition was investigated via several influential variables. Final concentration of silver ions in feed solution was obtained 0.2mg/L which was lower than the discharge limit of Thailand’s mandatory.

Keywords: Hollow fiber, Liquid membrane, Separation, Silver ions.

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Authors: Rizwan Nasir, Hilmi Mukhtar, Zakaria Man, Dzeti Farhah Mohshim

Abstract:

Carbon dioxide has been well associated with greenhouse effect, and due to its corrosive nature it is an undesirable compound. A variety of physical-chemical processes are available for the removal of carbon dioxide. Previous attempts in this field have established alkanolamine group has the capability to remove carbon dioxide. So, this study combined the polymeric membrane and alkanolamine solutions to fabricate the amine polymeric membrane (APM) to remove carbon dioxide (CO₂). This study entails the effect of three types of amines, monoethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), and methyldiethanolamine (MDEA). The effect of each alkanolamine group on the morphology and performance of polyether sulfone (PES) polymeric membranes was studied. Flat sheet membranes were fabricated by solvent evaporation method by adding polymer and different alkanolamine solutions in the N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) solvent. The final membranes were characterized by using Field Emission Electron Microscope (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), and Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis (TGA). The membrane separation performance was studied. The PES-DEA and PES-MDEA membrane has good ability to remove carbon dioxide. 

Keywords: Amine Polymeric membrane, Alkanolamine solution, CO2 Removal, Characterization.

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Authors: Bhausaheb L. Pangarkar, M.G. Sane

Abstract:

Membrane distillation (MD) is a rising technology for seawater or brine desalination process. In this work, an air gap membrane distillation (AGMD) performance was investigated for aqueous NaCl solution along with natural ground water and seawater. In order to enhance the performance of the AGMD process in desalination, that is, to get more flux, it is necessary to study the effect of operating parameters on the yield of distillate water. The influence of operational parameters such as feed flow rate, feed temperature, feed salt concentration, coolant temperature and air gap thickness on the membrane distillation (MD) permeation flux have been investigated for low and high salt solution. the natural application of ground water and seawater over 90 h continuous operation, scale deposits observed on the membrane surface and reduction in flux represents 23% for ground water and 60% for seawater, in 90 h. This reduction was eliminated (less than 14 %) by acidification of feed water. Hence, promote the research attention in apply of AGMD for the ground water as well as seawater desalination over today-s conventional RO operation.

Keywords: MD, ground water, seawater, AGMD.

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Authors: Ajab Khan Kasi, Muhammad Waseem Ashraf, Jafar Khan Kasi, Shahzadi Tayyaba, NitinAfzulpurkar

Abstract:

This paper presents the development of low cost Nano membrane fabrication system. The system is specially designed for anodic aluminum oxide membrane. This system is capable to perform the processes such as anodization and electro-polishing. The designed machine was successfully tested for 'mild anodization' (MA) for 48 hours and 'hard anodization' (HA) for 3 hours at constant 0oC. The system is digitally controlled and guided for temperature maintenance during anodization and electro-polishing. The total cost of the developed machine is 20 times less than the multi-cooling systems available in the market which are generally used for this purpose.

Keywords: Anodic aluminum oxide, Nano-membrane, hardanodization, mild anodization, electro-polishing.

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Authors: Vijay Singh, Chandan Das

Abstract:

Synthetic juice clarification was done through spiral wound ultrafiltration (UF) membrane module. Synthetic juice was clarified at two different operating conditions, such as, with and without permeates recycle at turbulent flow regime. The performance of spiral wound ultrafiltration membrane was analyzed during clarification of synthetic juice. Synthetic juice was the mixture of deionized water, sucrose and pectin molecule. The operating conditions are: feed flowrate of 10 lpm, pressure drop of 413.7 kPa and Reynolds no of 5000. Permeate sample was analyzed in terms of volume reduction factor (VRF), viscosity (Pa.s), ⁰Brix, TDS (mg/l), electrical conductivity (μS) and turbidity (NTU). It was observe that the permeate flux declined with operating time for both conditions of with and without permeate recycle due to increase of concentration polarization and increase of gel layer on membrane surface. For without permeate recycle, the membrane fouling rate was faster compared to with permeate recycle. For without permeate recycle, the VRF rose up to 5 and for with recycle permeate the VRF is 1.9. The VRF is higher due to adsorption of solute (pectin) molecule on membrane surface and resulting permeateflux declined with VRF. With permeate recycle, quality was within acceptable limit. Fouled membrane was cleaned by applying different processes (e.g., deionized water, SDS and EDTA solution). Membrane cleaning was analyzed in terms of permeability recovery.

Keywords: Synthetic juice, Spiral wound, ultrafiltration, Reynolds No, Volume reduction factor.

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Authors: Zita Šereš, Dragana Šoronja Simović, Ljubica Dokić, Lidietta Giorno, Biljana Pajin, Cecilia Hodur, Nikola Maravić

Abstract:

Membrane technology is convenient for separation of suspended solids, colloids and high molecular weight materials that are present. The idea is that the waste stream from edible oil industry, after the separation of oil by using skimmers is subjected to microfiltration and the obtained permeate can be used again in the production process. The wastewater from edible oil industry was used for the microfiltration. For the microfiltration of this effluent a tubular membrane was used with a pore size of 200 nm at transmembrane pressure in range up to 3 bar and in range of flow rate up to 300 L/h. Box–Behnken design was selected for the experimental work and the responses considered were permeate flux and chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction. The reduction of the permeate COD was in the range 40-60% according to the feed. The highest permeate flux achieved during the process of microfiltration was 160 L/m²h.

Keywords: Ceramic membrane, edible oil, microfiltration, wastewater.

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Authors: A. Hemmati, H. Mirsaeedghazi, M. Aboonajmi

Abstract:

Carrot juice is one of the most nutritious foods that are consumed around the world. Large particles in carrot juice causing turbid appearance make some problems in the concentration process such as off-flavor due to the large particles burnt on the walls of evaporators. Microfiltration (MF) is a pressure driven membrane separation method that can clarify fruit juices without enzymatic treatment. Fouling is the main problem in the membrane process causing reduction of permeate flux. Ultrasound as a cleaning technique was applied at 20 kHz to reduce fouling in membrane clarification of carrot juice using dead-end MF system with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane. Results showed that application of ultrasound waves reduce diphasic characteristic of carrot juice and permeate flux increased. Evaluation of different membrane fouling mechanisms showed that application of ultrasound waves changed creation time of each fouling mechanism. Also, its behavior was changed with varying transmembrane pressure.

Keywords: Carrot juice, dead end, microfiltration, ultrasound.

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Authors: C. N. Okafor, M. Maaza, T. A. E. Mokrani

Abstract:

A proton exchange membrane has been developed for direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). The nanofiber network composite membranes were prepared by interconnected network of Nafion (perfuorosulfonic acid) nanofibers that have been embedded in an uncharged and inert polymer matrix, by electro-spinning. The spinning solution of Nafion with a low concentration (1 wt% compared to Nafion) of high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide), as a carrier polymer. The interconnected network of Nafion nanofibers with average fiber diameter in the range of 160-700nm, were used to make the membranes, with the nanofiber occupying up to 85% of the membrane volume. The matrix polymer was crosslinked with Norland Optical Adhesive 63 under UV. The resulting membranes showed proton conductivity of 0.10 S/cm at 25°C and 80% RH; and methanol permeability of 3.6 x 10-6 cm2/s.

Keywords: Composite membrane, electrospinning, fuel cell, nanofibers.

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Authors: M. Saeedi, R. Wuchner, K.-U. Bletzinger

Abstract:

In order to study the aerodynamic performance of a semi-flexible membrane wing, Fluid-Structure Interaction simulations have been performed. The fluid problem has been modeled using two different approaches which are the vortex panel method and the numerical solution of the Navier-Stokes equations. Nonlinear analysis of the structural problem is performed using the Finite Element Method. Comparison between the two fluid solvers has been made. Aerodynamic performance of the wing is discussed regarding its lift and drag coefficients and they are compared with those of the equivalent rigid wing.

Keywords: CFD, FSI, Membrane wing, Vortex panel method.

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Authors: Zita Šereš, Ljubica Dokić, Nikola Maravić, Dragana Šoronja–Simović, Cecilia Hodur, Ivana Nikolić, Biljana Pajin

Abstract:

New environmental regulations and the increasing market preference for companies that respect the ecosystem had encouraged the industry to look after new treatments for its effluents. The sugar industry, one of the largest emitter of environmental pollutants, follows this tendency. Membrane technology is convenient for separation of suspended solids, colloids and high molecular weight materials that are present in a wastewater from sugar industry. The idea is to microfilter the wastewater, where the permeate passes through the membrane and becomes available for recycle and re-use in the sugar manufacturing process. For microfiltration of this effluent a tubular ceramic membrane was used with a pore size of 200 nm at transmembrane pressure in range of 1–3 bars and in range of flow rate of 50–150 l/h. Kenics static mixer was used for permeate flux enhancement. Turbidity and suspended solids were removed and the permeate flux was continuously monitored during the microfiltration process. The flux achieved after 90 minutes of microfiltration was in a range of 50–70 l/m2h. The obtained turbidity decrease was in the range of 50-99 % and total amount of suspended solids was removed.

Keywords: Ceramic membrane, microfiltration, sugar industry, wastewater.

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Authors: Uma Thanganathan

Abstract:

The hybrid membranes containing inorganic materials in polymer matrix are identified as a remarkable family of proton conducting hybrid electrolytes. In this work, the proton conducting inorganic/organic hybrid membranes for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) were prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), tetraethoxyorthosilane (TEOS) and heteropolyacid (HPA). The synthesized hybrid membranes were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA). The effects of heteropolyacid incorporation on membrane properties, including morphology and thermal stability were extensively investigated.

Keywords: PEMFC, Hybrid membrane, FTIR, TGA, Phosphomolybdic acid

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Authors: Y. Alqaheem, A. Alomair, F. Altarkait, F. Alswaileh, Nusrat Tanoli

Abstract:

Helium market is continuously growing due to its essential uses in the electronic and healthcare sectors. Currently, helium is produced by cryogenic distillation but the process is uneconomical especially for low production volumes. On the other hand, polymeric membranes can provide a cost-effective solution for helium purification due to their low operating energy. However, the preparation of membranes involves the use of very toxic solvents such as chloroform. In this work, polyetherimide membranes were prepared using a less toxic solvent, n-methylpyrrolidone with a polymer-to-solvent ratio of 27 wt%. The developed membrane showed a superior helium permeability of 15.9 Barrer that surpassed the permeability of membranes made by chloroform.

Keywords: Helium separation, polyetherimide, dense membrane, gas permeability, solvent.

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Authors: S. Al-Enezi, J. Samuel, A. Al-Banna

Abstract:

Polymer based membranes are one of the low-cost technologies available for the gas separation. Three major elements required for a commercial gas separating membrane are high permeability, high selectivity, and good mechanical strength. Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a commercially available fluoropolymer and a widely used membrane material in gas separation devices since it possesses remarkable thermal, chemical stability, and excellent mechanical strength. The PVDF membrane was chemically modified by soaking in different ionic liquids and dried. The thermal behavior of modified membranes was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TGA), and the results clearly show the best affinity between the ionic liquid and the polymer support. The porous structure of the PVDF membranes was clearly seen in the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. The CO₂ permeability of blended membranes was explored in comparison with the unmodified matrix. The ionic liquid immobilized in the hydrophobic PVDF support exhibited good performance for separations of CO₂/N₂. The improved permeability of modified membrane (PVDF-IL) is attributed to the high concentration of nitrogen rich imidazolium moieties.

Keywords: PVDF, gas permeability, polymer membrane, ionic liquid.

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Authors: Ngozi Nwogu, Godson Osueke, Mamdud Hossain, Edward Gobina

Abstract:

An unconventional composite inorganic ceramic membrane capable of enhancing carbon dioxide emission decline was fabricated and tested at laboratory scale in conformism to various environmental guidelines and also to mitigate the effect of global warming. A review of the existing membrane technologies for carbon capture including the relevant gas transport mechanisms is presented. Single gas permeation experiments using silica modified ceramic membrane with internal diameter 20mm, outside diameter 25mm and length of 368mm deposited on a macro porous support was carried out to investigate individual gas permeation behaviours at different pressures at room temperature. Membrane fabrication was achieved using after a dip coating method. Nitrogen, Carbon dioxide, Argon, Oxygen and Methane pure gases were used to investigate their individual permeation rates at various pressures. Results show that the gas flow rate increases with pressure drop. However above a pressure of 3bar, CO2 permeability ratio to that of the other gases indicated control of a more selective surface adsorptive transport mechanism.

Keywords: Carbon dioxide composite inorganic membranes, permeability, transport mechanisms.

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Authors: A. Thakur, P. S. Panesar, M. S. Saini

Abstract:

Extraction of lactic acid by emulsion liquid membrane technology (ELM) using n-trioctyl amine (TOA) in n-heptane as carrier within the organic membrane along with sodium carbonate as acceptor phase was optimized by using response surface methodology (RSM). A three level Box-Behnken design was employed for experimental design, analysis of the results and to depict the combined effect of five independent variables, vizlactic acid concentration in aqueous phase (c_l), sodium carbonate concentration in stripping phase (c_s), carrier concentration in membrane phase (ψ), treat ratio, and batch extraction time (τ)  with equal volume of organic and external aqueous phase on lactic acid extraction efficiency. The maximum lactic acid extraction efficiency (ηext) of 98.21%from aqueous phase in a batch reactor using ELM was found at the optimized values for test variables, cl, cs, ψ,
and τ as 0.06 [M], 0.18 [M], 4.72 (%,v/v), 1.98 (v/v) and 13.36 min respectively. 

Keywords: Emulsion liquid membrane, extraction, lactic acid, n-trioctylamine, response surface methodology.

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Authors: Aymen Laadhari, Gábor Székely

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with the development of a fully implicit and purely Eulerian fluid-structure interaction method tailored for the modeling of the large deformations of elastic membranes in a surrounding Newtonian fluid. We consider a simplified model for the mechanical properties of the membrane, in which the surface strain energy depends on the membrane stretching. The fully Eulerian description is based on the advection of a modified surface tension tensor, and the deformations of the membrane are tracked using a level set strategy. The resulting nonlinear problem is solved by a Newton-Raphson method, featuring a quadratic convergence behavior. A monolithic solver is implemented, and we report several numerical experiments aimed at model validation and illustrating the accuracy of the presented method. We show that stability is maintained for significantly larger time steps.

Keywords: Fluid-membrane interaction, stretching, Eulerian, finite element method, Newton, implicit.

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Authors: C. Castro-Egler, A. Durán-Escalante, A. García-González

Abstract:

This paper presents a method to generate a finite element model of the human auditory inner ear system. The geometric model has been realized using 2D images from a virtual model of temporal bones. A point cloud has been gotten manually from those images to construct a whole mesh with hexahedral elements. The main difference with the predecessor models is the spiral shape of the cochlea with its three scales completely defined: scala tympani, scala media and scala vestibuli; which are separate by basilar membrane and Reissner membrane. To validate this model, numerical simulations have been realised with two models: an isolated inner ear and a whole model of human auditory system. Ideal conditions of displacement are applied over the oval window in the isolated Inner Ear model. The whole model is made up of the outer auditory channel, the tympani, the ossicular chain, and the inner ear. The boundary condition for the whole model is 1Pa over the auditory channel entrance. The numerical simulations by FEM have been done using a harmonic analysis with a frequency range between 100-10.000 Hz with an interval of 100Hz. The following results have been carried out: basilar membrane displacement; the scala media pressure according to the cochlea length and the transfer function of the middle ear normalized with the pressure in the tympanic membrane. The basilar membrane displacements and the pressure in the scala media make it possible to validate the response in frequency of the basilar membrane.

Keywords: Finite elements method, human auditory system model, numerical analysis, 3D modelling cochlea.

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Authors: K. C. R. Perera, B. G. Sampath, V. P. C. Dassanayake, B. M. Hapuwatte.

Abstract:

This paper presents a methodology to harvest the kinetic energy of the raindrops using piezoelectric devices. In the study 1m×1m PVDF (Polyvinylidene fluoride) piezoelectric membrane, which is fixed by the four edges, is considered for the numerical simulation on deformation of the membrane due to the impact of the raindrops. Then according to the drop size of the rain, the simulation is performed classifying the rainfall types into three categories as light stratiform rain, moderate stratiform rain and heavy thundershower. The impact force of the raindrop is dependent on the terminal velocity of the raindrop, which is a function of raindrop diameter. The results were then analyzed to calculate the harvestable energy from the deformation of the piezoelectric membrane.

Keywords: Raindrop, piezoelectricity, deformation, terminal velocity.

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Authors: Ujjal K Ghosh, Ling Teen

Abstract:

Pervaporation has the potential to be an alternative to the other traditional separation processes such as distillation, adsorption, reverse osmosis and extraction. This study investigates the separation of phenol from water using a polyurethane membrane by pervaporation by applying the modified Maxwell-Stephen model. The modified Maxwell-Stefan model takes into account the non-ideal multi-component solubility effect, nonideal diffusivity of all permeating components, concentration dependent density of the membrane and diffusion coupling to predict various fluxes. Four cases has been developed to investigate the process parameters effects on the flux and weight fraction of phenol in the permeate values namely feed concentration, membrane thickness, operating temperature and operating downstream pressure. The model could describe semi-quantitatively the performance of the pervaporation membrane for the given system as a very good agreement between the observed and theoretical fluxes was observed.

Keywords: Pervaporation, Phenol, Polyurethane, Modified Maxwell-Stefan equation, Solution Diffusion

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Authors: Bhausaheb L. Pangarkar, M. G. Sane, Saroj B. Parjane, Rajendra M. Abhang, Mahendra Guddad

Abstract:

Vacuum membrane distillation (VMD) process can be used for water purification or the desalination of salt water. The process simply consists of a flat sheet hydrophobic micro porous PTFE membrane and diaphragm vacuum pump without a condenser for the water recovery or trap. The feed was used aqueous NaCl solution. The VMD experiments were performed to evaluate the heat and mass transfer coefficient of the boundary layer in a membrane module. The only operating parameters are feed inlet temperature, and feed flow rate were investigated. The permeate flux was strongly affected by the feed inlet temperature, feed flow rate, and boundary layer heat transfer coefficient. Since lowering the temperature polarization coefficient is essential enhance the process performance considerable and maximizing the heat transfer coefficient for maximizes the mass flux of distillate water. In this paper, the results of VMD experiments are used to measure the boundary layer heat transfer coefficient, and the experimental results are used to reevaluate the empirical constants in the Dittus- Boelter equation.

Keywords: Desalination, heat and mass transfer coefficient, temperature polarization, membrane distillation

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Authors: Maliheh Raji, Hossein Abolghasemi, Jaber Safdari, Ali Kargari

Abstract:

Dysprosium is a rare earth element which is essential for many growing high-technology applications. Dysprosium along with neodymium plays a significant role in different applications such as metal halide lamps, permanent magnets, and nuclear reactor control rods preparation. The purification and separation of rare earth elements are challenging because of their similar chemical and physical properties. Among the various methods, membrane processes provide many advantages over the conventional separation processes such as ion exchange and solvent extraction. In this work, selective extraction and separation of dysprosium from aqueous solutions containing an equimolar mixture of dysprosium and neodymium by emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) was investigated. The organic membrane phase of the ELM was a nanofluid consisting of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT), Span80 as surfactant, Cyanex 272 as carrier, kerosene as base fluid, and nitric acid solution as internal aqueous phase. Factors affecting separation of dysprosium such as carrier concentration, MWCNT concentration, feed phase pH and stripping phase concentration were analyzed using Taguchi method. Optimal experimental condition was obtained using analysis of variance (ANOVA) after 10 min extraction. Based on the results, using MWCNT nanofluid in ELM process leads to increase the extraction due to higher stability of membrane and mass transfer enhancement and separation factor of 6 for dysprosium over neodymium can be achieved under the optimum conditions. Additionally, demulsification process was successfully performed and the membrane phase reused effectively in the optimum condition.

Keywords: Emulsion liquid membrane, MWCNT nanofluid, separation, Taguchi Method.

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Authors: Junior B. N. Adohinzin, Ling Xu

Abstract:

Nitrogen is among the main nutrients encouraging the growth of organic matter and algae which cause eutrophication in water bodies. Therefore, its removal from wastewater has become a worldwide emerging concern. In this research, an innovative Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) system named “moving bed membrane bioreactor (MBMBR)” was developed and investigated under intermittently-aerated mode for simultaneous removal of organic carbon and nitrogen.

Results indicated that the variation of the intermittently aerated duration did not have an apparent impact on COD and NH₄⁺–N removal rate, yielding the effluent with average COD and NH₄⁺–N removal efficiency of more than 92 and 91% respectively. However, in the intermittently aerated cycle of (continuously aeration/0s mix), (aeration 90s/mix 90s) and (aeration 90s/mix 180s); the average TN removal efficiency was 67.6%, 69.5% and 87.8% respectively. At the same time, their nitrite accumulation rate was 4.5%, 49.1% and 79.4% respectively. These results indicate that the intermittently aerated mode is an efficient way to controlling the nitrification to stop at nitrition; and also the length of anoxic duration is a key factor in improving TN removal.

Keywords: Membrane bioreactor (MBR), Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR), Nutrients removal, Simultaneous nitrification and denitrification.

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