Membrane filtration with reversible adsorption: The effect of transmembrane pressure, feed flow rate, and the geometry of hollow fiber filters on their performance

The effect of transmembrane pressure, feed flow rate, and the geometry of hollow-fiber filters on their performance is studied for depth membrane filtration with reversible adsorption. Mathematical models for rectangular and radial filters are used to find the maximal operation times with a filter retention of not less than 0.9 at constant product (permeate plus filtrate) flow rates for the treatment of a latex suspension in continuous-flow and batch operations. It is shown that the maximal operation time and, hence, product volume is achieved when the feed flow rate approaches the initial permeate flow rate. It is also found that several filters with a lower initial permeate flow rate allow one to achieve a much longer operation time than one filter with the same total initial permeate flow rate.