ABSTRACT

This is a report from the experiment to study the characteristics of different types of
membrane. The development of the filter medium has helped the industry, specifically
filtration industry to achieve very fine levels of separation today. In its early days as a
separating medium, the membrane was a thin flexible sheet or a thin-walled flexible tube,
rendered semi-permeable by its production process. Its earlier applications covered reverse
osmosis and ultrafiltration. Then, the appearance of nanofiltration has overlapped the top end
of reverse osmosis and the lower end of ultrafiltration. Furthermore, appearance of
microfiltration has greatly increased the applicability of membrane media in separation
processes. In addition, though membranes are better known for liquid separation, they are
also widely used for gas and vapour separations. Ken Sutherland (2009) stated that, the
ability to make smart of functional membranes is an important development in membrane
materials, and the rotating or vibrating membrane unit offers a great promise. Even the
application of membrane has also been developed, as such; sterilisation of a liquid flow or
treating waste liquid.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Semipermeable membranes involve in many separation processes of gaseous or liquid

mixture. Semipermeable membranes; which usually are of thin layers of a rigid material such
as porous glass or sintered metal allow one or more constituents of a mixture to pass through
more readily than the others. However, in some cases, the membranes are purposely designed
to be of flexible films which have a high permeability for certain types of molecules, and
made from synthetic polymers. (Warren L., 2005)
Out of the three groups of filtration, the principle of crossflow filtration; membrane
filtration was applied in this equipment, Membrane Test Unit (Model : TR 14). The
membrane in crossflow filtration is made up of ceramic, metal or polymer. The pores are
small enough to exclude most of the suspended particles. The feed suspension, in a crossflow
filter flows across the filter medium under pressure at a moderate velocity. There may be a
build up of a thin layer of solids on the surface of the medium, but the formation of the layer
is prevented by the high liquid velocity. (Warren L., 2005)
There are severel types of filters involve in the crossflow filtration. The first one is the
microfiltration. This type of filter is generally used for particles of the size range between 0.5
to

. Besides that, ultrafiltration is also one of the types of filter in crossflow

filtration. It covers a wider range of particles sizes, from

of about

10 m

to molecules with the size

. Next, for the separation of small molecules or ions, hyperfiltration and

nanofiltration is used. However, in such operation, reverse osmosis would also be applied
when the osmotic pressure has a major effect on the flux. The difference between these two
filters is their type of membrane. (Warren L., 2005)

2.0 OBJECTIVE

This experiment was carried out to study the characteristics of four different types of
membrane.

3.0 THEORY

The term membrane most commonly refers to a thin, film-like structure that separates
two fluids. It acts as a selective barrier which allow some particles or chemicals to pass
through but not others. In anatomy cases, membrane may refer to a thin film that is primarily
a separating structure rather than a selective barrier.
A membrane is a layer of material which serves as a selective barrier between two
phases and remains impermeable to specific particles, molecules, or substances when
exposed to the action of a driving force. Components that are not allowed to pass through the
membrane membrane retained in the retentate stream while the other allowed components
pass through the membrane into a permeate stream.
In reverse osmosis membrane process, a membrane must allow passage of certain
molecules and exclude or greatly restrict passage of others. In osmosis, a spontaneous
transport of solvent occurs from a dilute solute or salt solution to a concentrated solute or salt
solution across a semipermeable membrane which allows passage of the solvent but impedes
passage of the salt solutes. The solvent water normally flows through the semipermeable
membrane to the salt solution. The solvent can be reduced by exerting a pressure on the salt
solution, equilibrium is reached and the amount of solvent passing in opposite direction is
equal. The chemical potentials of the solvent on both sides of the membrane are equal.
Ultrafiltration membrane procedded has quite similarity with reverse osmosis. It is
pressure driven process where the solvent and small solute molecules pass through the
membrane and are collected as a permeate. Larger solute molecules do not pass through the
membrane and recovered in a concentrated solution. The solutes or molecules to be separated
generally have molecular weights greater than 500 and up to 1 000 000 or more.
Ultrafiltration membranes are too porous to be used for desalting. It is also used to separate a
mixture of different molecular weight proteins.
In microfiltration membrane processes, pressure-driven flow through a membrane is
used to separate micron-sized particles from liquids. The size range of particles ranges from

0.02

to 10

. This microfiltration separates particles from solutions. The particles

are usually larger than the solutes in reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. Hence, osmotic
pressure is negligible. At the very low end of the size range, very large soluble
macromolecules are retained. The dividing line between ultrafiltration and microfiltration is
not very distinct. The pore sizes of the membranes and the permeate flux are typically larger
than for reverse osmosis and ultrafiltration. Usually the pressure drop used across the
membranes varies from 1 psi to 50 psi.

4.0 APPARATUS AND MATERIALS

4.1 Membrane Test Unit ( Model TR 14 )
4.2 Digital weighing balance
4.3 Stopwatch
4.4 Beaker
4.5 Sodium Chloride and Water

5.0 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

5.1 The general start-up procedures had been performed by the laboratory technician.
5.2 The experiment for Membrane 1 was started. Valves V2, V5, V7, V11 and V15
were opened.
5.3 The working pressure was set to maximum at 20 bars by switching on the plunger
pump (P1), and slowly closing the valve V5. The pressure value at the pressure
gauge was observed and the pressure regulator was adjusted to 20 bars.
5.4 Valve V5 was opened. Then, the membrane maximum inlet pressure was set to 18
bars for Membrane 1 by adjusting the retentate control valve (V15).
5.5 The system was allowed to run for 5 minutes. The sample was stared to be
collected from permeate sampling port. To collect sample, valve V19 was opened,
and valve V11 was closed, simultaneously. The sample was weighed using digital
weighing balance. The weight of permeates was recorded at every 1 minute
interval, within 10 minutes.
5.6 Step 1 to 5 was repeated for Membrane 2, 3 and 4. The respective sets of valves
were opened and closed, and the membrane maximum inlet pressure for every
membrane was adjusted, according to the table below;
Membrane

Open

Valves Sampling Valves

(step 2)

Retentate

Membrane

Control Valve Maximum

Inlet Pressure

V2, V5, V7, Open

V19,

close V15

(bar)
18.0

V11, V15
V11
V2, V5, V8, Open

V20,

close V16

12.0

V12, V16
V12
V2, V5, V9, Open

V21,

close V17

10.0

V13, V17
V13
V2, V5, V10, Open

V22,

close V18

8.5

V14, V18

V14

Table 5.1 : Respective sets of valves for every membrane

5.7 The graph of weight of permeate versus time was plotted.

6.0 RESULTS

Time (min)

Membrane 1

Weight of Permeates (gram)

Membrane 2
Membrane 3

Membrane 4

1.0
2.0
3.0
4.0
5.0
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0

28.06
55.07
68.85
81.57
106.69
132.68
157.99
182.88
206.78
233.42

76.42
148.57
218.84
284.21
352.08
421.15
488.43
555.79
625.14
693.08

210.0
437.40
641.95
863.57
1015.08
1184.86
1340.34
1497.15
1635.37
1780.28

708.99
1371.42
2002.80
2655.76
2703.28
3378.67
3926.87
4449.29
4529.13
5249.47

Table 6.1 : Table of experimental results

Weight of Permeates VS Time

6000

Weight of Permeates (g)

5000

Weight of Permeates(gram)
Membrane 1

4000

Weight of Permeates(gram)
Membrane 2

3000

Weight of Permeates(gram)
Membrane 3

2000

Weight of Permeates(gram)
Membrane 4

1000
0
Time (min)
Graph 6.1 : Graph of Weight of Permeates VS Time

7.0 DISCUSSIONS

The experiment was conducted to distinguish between four types of membranes. In this
experiment, the Membrane Test Unit (Model : TR 14) used has four membranes. They are;
reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF), ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF). This
experiment was started by preparing the sodium chloride solution first, by adding 100 gram
of sodium chloride into 20 litre of water. The solution was then filled into the feed tank of the
unit. Then, the experiment was conducted as in the experimental procedures.

The membranes that were used in this experiment were different from each other. They were
manufactured by PCI system, and were categorized according to their membrane types. The
type of membrane used in membrane 1, 2, 3 and 4 were made up of mostly polyamide film
and cellulose acetate. Polyamide film was widely used to make membrane because of its
permeability to water and its relative impermeability to various dissolved impurities
including salt ions and other small non-filtrable molecules. On the other hand, cellulose
acetate has an extremely low binding characteristic. This was why it is suitable and an ideal
type of membrane to be used for protein and enzyme filtrations. Another material that made
up the membrane is polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF), a material that can provide high
protein and nucleic acid binding capacity.
One of the characteristics of membrane is hydrophilic membrane, which it has an attractive
response to water and can readily absorb water. This allows the material to be wetted forming
a watter film or coating on the surface of the membrane. In contrast, hydrophobic membrane
does not absorb water and have less charge than hydrophilic.
Based on the plotted graph, it can be seen that the permeation rate differs for each of the
membrane. Membrane 4 had the highest permeation rates. Next, it followed by Membrane 3,
then Membrane 2 and lastly, Membrane 1. Hence, permeates moves fastest through
Membrane 4 and slowest through membrane 1. The high permeation rate of Membrane 4 is
most likely due to its hydrophobic property, while as for membrane 3, its hydrophilic
property caused its permeation to be the slowest.
There were several errors occurred during the experiment which affect the results obtaind.
One of the errors is the digital weighing scale cannot measure the accurate weight of the
permeate due to the vibration of the pump, which made the reading of the weighing scale was
inconsistent. In order to reduce this error, the weighing scale should be put outside of the unit.
Besides that, the weight of the permeate that was permeated from the membrane changed too
fast, which eventually causing the weight recorded to be less accurate. Then, to reduce this
error , the experiment need to be repeated three time to get tha average reading of the
permeate weight.

8.0 CONCLUSION

Based on the results obtained, it was observed that permeation rate differs for each
membrane. Membrane 4 has the highest permeation rates, followed by Membrane 3, then
Membrane 2, and lastly Membrane 1.
Since Membrane 4 has the highest permeation rates, then, permeate moves fastest through it.
On the other hand, the permeate moves the slowest through Membrane 1.

9.0 RECOMMENDATIONS

9.1 The pressure must be ensured to be measured according to the experimental

procedure.
9.2 All valves must be ensured to be well functioning to avoid pressure drop during
experiment.
9.3 The weighing balance should be put outside of the unit to avoid inaccurate
measurement due to vibration.
9.4 Repeat the experiment 3 times to get more accurate permeate weight
measurements

REFERENCES

Christie John Geankoplis, Transport Processes and Separation Process principle 4 th Edition,
Pearson Education Inc, United States, 2003
Warren L. McCabe, Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering 7th Edition, McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc., 2005
Ken Sutherland, Membrane Filtration : Whats New in Membrane Filtration?, accessed from
http://ac.els-cdn.com.ezaccess.library.uitm.edu.my/S0015188209701934/1-s2.0S0015188209701934-main.pdf?_tid=50b5de28-dc0d-11e4-b75100000aab0f27&acdnat=1428291227_e5f2e2063039afca4a582f9f653582fd at 6th April 2015

APPENDIX