Experiment : Flow Through Porous Media

Team N!nja Caspe, Jimenez, Nuevaespaa

I. Introduction
Membrane separation is a kind of flow through porous medium unit operation
which has found significant applications in process industries. It is a which
utilizes a semipermeable membrane. In this process, the membrane controls the
rate of movement of various molecules between two liquid phases, two gas
phases, or a liquid and a gas phase for the separation to occur. The membrane
prevents ordinary hydrodynamic flow and the two fluids used are usually miscible
(Geankoplis, 1993).
In a flow through porous membrane, the gas permeating the membrane is
enriched in the lower molecular weight components when a gas mixture is
allowed to diffuse. This is because the diffuse more rapidly. If the pore radius is
much smaller than the mean free path in the gas phase, Knudsen diffusion occurs
(McCabe, Smith, & Harriot, 1993). In Knudsen diffusion, collisions with the pore
walls are much more frequent than the collisions with other molecules in the fluid
which means that the gas will flow through the pores as individual molecules
(Zimmerman, 2017).
Darcys law governs flow of fluids through porous media. It states that the
flow is proportional to the pressure drop and inversely proportional to the fluid
viscosity. Equation 1 links the fluid flux (discharge per unit area) q, with the
applied pressure gradient P .

k
q= P

where is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid and k is the permeability

constant. The fluid flow description through porous medium largely depends on
the precise relation between permeability and porosity. Porosity is defined as the
measure of the void spaces in a material (Matyka, Khalili, & Koza, 2008).
Also, an important parameter in flow thorough porous media is the
permeability. Permeability is defined as the ability of a porous media to transmit
fluids. It has a unit of measurement called darcy. Numerous factors can affect the
magnitude and direction permeability. These are: (1) textural properties which
includes, (a) pore size/grain size, (b) grain size distribution, (c) shape of grains,
(d) packing of grains; (2) gas slippage; (3) amount, distribution and type of
materials; (4) type and amount of secondary porosity; (5) overburden pressure; (6)
reactive fluids and; (7) high velocity flow effects (New Mexico Tech, 2017).
 Membrane separation processes can be classified into six main categories
namely: (1) gas diffusion in porous solid; (2) gas permeation in a membrane; (3)
liquid permeation or dialysis; (4) reverse osmosis; (5) ultrafiltration membrane
process and; (6) gas permeation chromatography (Geankoplis, 1993).
In the experiment, gas permeation in a membrane is used. This is a membrane
process wherein the membrane used is a usually polymer like rubber, polyamide,
etc. The mechanism involves gas being dissolved in the membrane and then
diffuses in the solid or other gas phase as shown in Figure 1. An example of this
type of membrane process is hydrogen diffusing through rubber and helium being
separated from natural gas via permeation through a fluorocarbon polymer. The
separation happens because each type of molecule diffuses at a different rate
through the membrane (Geankoplis, 1993).

Figure 1. Gas permeation in a membrane (Noxerior, 2017)

II. Objectives
The objective of the experiment is to utilize Virtual Lab to study flow through porous
media.
Specifically, the experiment aimed to:
1. Determine the permeability factor and porosity of the membrane used in the
experiment
2. Determine the effect of varying film thickness on permeability factor and porosity
of the film
III. Scope and Limitations
IV. Methodology
V. Results and Discussion
Thickness K Porosity
1.5 0.003740382 0.00375448
2.0 0.004987176 0.00501230
 2.5 0.006233970 0.00627333
3.0 0.007480765 0.00753758
3.5 0.008727559 0.00880509
4.0 0.009974353 0.01007588
4.5 0.011221147 0.01134997
5.0 0.012467941 0.01262739
5.5 0.013714735 0.01390817
6.0 0.014961529 0.01519234
VI. Conclusion
VII. Recommendations
VIII. References
IX. Appendix
a. Raw Data
Pressure (psi) Average (Pa) Flow Rate (L/h) K
5 118562 1.26045 0.0544708
10 135799 2.50551 0.0541384
15 153036 3.89679 0.0561339
20 170273 5.25827 0.0568097
25 187510 6.75162 0.0583549
30 204747 8.25004 0.0594216
35 221984 9.88299 0.0610140
40 239221 11.5619 0.0624568
45 256457 13.2418 0.0635835
50 273694 15.0562 0.0650659