COMPARATIVE-EVALUATION OF INDUSTRIAL MEMBRANES - CORRELATION BETWEEN TRANSPORT AND OPERATIONAL PARAMETERS

The effects of operating pressure and feed concentration on the solute transport parameter (D-AM/K delta) and mass transfer coefficient (k) with respect to aqueous sodium chloride solutions for different cellul ose acetate membranes have been studied. The correlations of reverse o smosis (RO) data obtained were compared to those reported for other ce llulose acetate (CA) membranes using the Kimura-Sourirajan analysis. I t was shown that the compaction factor depends upon overall membrane p roperties and not just the polymer type. Furthermore, it was found tha t the transport parameter is essentially independent of feed concentra tion for the membranes tested and that the ratio of D-AM/K delta and o perating pressure remains practically constant. No definite trends hav e been observed on the variation in value of k with operating variable s. The effect of the membrane porosity on mass transfer coefficient is illustrated graphically.