Chemical Engineering / Kimya Mühendisliği

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/14

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Subject: search.filters.subject.Computational fluid dynamics

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  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 3
    Citation - Scopus: 3
    Numerical Study of Electrostatic Desalting: a Detailed Parametric Study
    (MDPI, 2022) Ramirez-Argaez, Marco A.; Abreú-López, Diego; Gracia-Fadrique, Jesús; Dutta, Abhishek
    A systematic process analysis was conducted to study the effect of the main variables in an industrial electrostatic desalter, such as electric field intensity, wash water content, droplet size, and oil viscosity, on the efficiency of the separation of water from oil. The analysis was assessed through an already published and validated CFD multiphase numerical model that considers the expression of the frequency of collisions as a function of the mentioned process variables. Additionally, the study allowed the formal optimization exercise of the operation to maximize the separation efficiency. The most significant variables were the initial water content and the electric field intensity, while the temperature (oil viscosity) had an effect to a lower extent. An increase in the electric field and temperature and a decrease in the water content improved the water separation from oil. Optimum values suggested from the factorial experimental design and the optimization implemented in this work indicated the use of an electric field of 3 kV/cm, water content of 3%, and an oil viscosity of 0.017 kg/ms. At the same time, the droplet size showed no significant effect under the conditions explored in this work.
  • Article
    Citation - WoS: 11
    Citation - Scopus: 12
    Numerical Modelling Assisted Design of a Compact Ultrafiltration (uf) Flat Sheet Membrane Module
    (MDPI, 2021) Bopape, Mokgadi F.; Van Geel, Tim; Dutta, Abhishek; Van der Bruggen, Bart; Onyango, Maurice Stephen
    The increasing adoption of ultra-low pressure (ULP) membrane systems for drinking water treatment in small rural communities is currently hindered by a limited number of studies on module design. Detailed knowledge on both intrinsic membrane transport properties and fluid hydrodynamics within the module is essential in understanding ULP performance prediction, mass transfer analysis for scaling-up between lab-scale and industrial scale research. In comparison to hollow fiber membranes, flat sheet membranes present certain advantages such as simple manufacture, sheet replacement for cleaning, moderate packing density and low to moderate energy usage. In the present case study, a numerical model using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of a novel custom flat sheet membrane module has been designed in 3D to predict fluid flow conditions. The permeate flux through the membrane decreased with an increase in spacer curviness from 2.81 L/m(2)h for no (0%) curviness to 2.73 L/m(2)h for full (100%) curviness. A parametric analysis on configuration variables was carried out to determine the optimum design variables and no significant influence of spacer inflow or outflow thickness on the fluid flow were observed. The numerical model provides the necessary information on the role of geometrical and operating parameters for fabricating a module prototype where access to technical expertise is limited.