Mathematical modeling of tangential filtration processes for winery wastewater treatment
摘要
In membrane separation processes, permeate flux decay throughout microfiltration is one of the predicted phenomena and arises due to fouling. This decay is one of the main contributors defining permeate flux characteristics, and its inclusion in mathematical modeling has challenged researchers in this area. Therefore, this study performed the mathematical modeling of tangential filtration processes applied to wastewater treatment from a winery. The mathematical modeling started from the modified resistance in series model and used the GITT (Generalized Integral Transform Technique) hybrid method. Experimental data were obtained from microfiltration of a winery’s effluent, evaluating transmembrane pressures between 50 and 600 kPa, fluid flow rates on the input between 0.06 and 0.15 m s−1 and effluent concentrations between 1/1 and 1/40 (dilutions ratio effluent:distilled water), using 0.4 µm alumina ceramic membrane. The results showed a significant convergence between the modeled and experimental data, with 80% of the data showing relative differences of less than 10%. Thus, the model with the proposed modifications can be used to determine the behavior of permeate flux throughout the laminar flow process. Moreover, from the proposed methodology it is possible to determine the limiting flux in order to identify when the process is losing energy unnecessarily.