1.

ABSTRACT

The Membrane Test Unit (TR14) was used to conduct the membrane separation
experiment. The membrane test unit was used to investigate the membrane separation technique
which is currently used in the industry. From the experiment we can see how effective and more
efficient the separation technique is where heat energy is not used when compared to the
distillation process. This experiment was conducted to study the characteristics of the four
different type of membrane used in the industry. The four type of membrane used in this
experiment is:

Membrane Type Pore Size Inlet Pressure(bar)

Membrane 1 CA202 (Cellulose Reverse Osmosis 18
acetate)
Membrane 2 AFC40 (Polyamide Ultra Filtration 12
Film)
Membrane 3 AFC99 (Polyamide Nano Filtration 10
Film)
Membrane 4 FP100 (PVDF) Micro Filtration 8.5

Each membrane have different maximum inlet pressure so the maximum working
pressure 20bar is set for each membrane experiment. The system was allowed to run for 5
minutes where after that the sample was collected from the sampling port and the weight of
permeates were taken every 1 minute for 10 minutes. The steps was then repeated for all
membranes. From the data recorded, the graph of permeate weight versus time was plotted

2. INTRODUCTION

The membrane separation technique are becoming a popular separation technique to be

used in the industries and become an important technique for the separation industries. This is
because it provide a more effective and cost-efficient separation when compared to the
distillation process where this technique doesnt required for the use of heat energy in the
process.

The membrane separation process is a process where first the membrane controlled the
movement rate of various molecules that passes through the semipermeable barrier between
whether two liquid, two gases or a liquid and a gas. The two substances are miscible to each
other and membrane barrier prevents the ordinary hydrodynamic flow.

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 There are four type of membrane separation method that is popular in the industries
which is the Reverse Osmosis (RO), Nano Filtration (NF), Ultra Filtration (UF) and Micro
Filtration (MF) membranes. In this experiment, the SOLTEQ Membrane Test Unit (TR 14) is
used to demonstrate the membrane separation technique where all four type of membrane
mentioned before is used. First of all, Reverse osmosis (RO) is a membrane filtration method
that extract many types of large molecules and ions from solutions by applying pressure to the
solution on one side of a selective membrane. Next, Nano Filtration is a type of reverse osmosis
process where it is a process of water purification that remove contaminants from the water to
produce clean, clear and pure water which is safe to drink. Next, Ultra Filtration is a separation
process where membranes with pore sizes in the range of 0.1 to 0.001 micron are used where the
process will remove high molecular-weight substances, colloidal materials, and organic and
inorganic polymeric molecules. Finally, Micro Filtration is a membrane separation process that
removes contaminants from a fluid, liquid or gas by passing it through a micro-porous membrane
where the membrane pore size is range from 0.1 to 10 micrometers. Different from reverse
osmosis and nano filtration, although micro filtration can use a pressurized system it does not
need to include pressure to be used for pushing the passing fluid.

3. AIMS

The aim of this experiment is to study the characteristic on four different types of membrane and
the membrane separation process.
4. THEORY
Membrane separation is a technique which selectively separates materials via pores and
small gaps in the molecular arrangement of a substance. Membrane separations are classified by
pore size and by the separation driving force. These classifications are: Microfiltration (MF),
Ultrafiltration (UF), Nanofiltration (NF), Ion-Exchange (IE), and Reverse Osmosis (RO).

The membrane is a selective barrier that allows the separation of certain species in a fluid
to separates from it by the combination of sieving, absorption and diffusion mechanism. Separation
process is when one or more components of a substances is allowed to pass through the membrane
selectively while blocking the passage of one or more other components that cannot pass the
membrane.

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 In membrane separation process, the feed stream is divided into 2 streams the permeate and
retentate. The permeate is that part of the feed that is allowed to passes through the membrane
while the retentate is that part of the feed that does not pass through the membrane. The optional
"sweep" is a gas or liquid that is used to help remove the permeate. The component of interest in
membrane separation is known as the solute. The solute can be retained on the membrane and
removed in the retentate or passed through the membrane in the permeate.

The advantages of membrane separation is that less energy is used because no major
phase changes occurs, adsorbents or solvents which may be expensive or difficult to handle is
not required and the simplicity and modularity of the equipment which facilitates the
incorporation of more efficient membranes. The most important advantage of membrane
separation process is that it operates without heating which means no heat energy is required
which means it is lower cost from other separation processes that required energy to operates.

5. MATERIAL & APPARATUS

Material
100g of Sodium chloride
20L of Water

Apparatus
SOLTEQ Membrane Test Unit (TR14)
4 different types of membrane
- membrane 1 : CA 202(Cellulose acetate)
- membrane 2 : AFC40(Polyamide Film)
- membrane 3 : AFC99 (Polyamide Film)
- membrane 4 : FP100(PVDF)
Plastic Container
Digital weighing balance
Stopwatch

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 6. METHOLOGY
General Start-Up Procedures
1. All valves are ensured initially closed.
2. A sodium chloride solution are prepared by adding 100 gram of sodium chloride into 20
liter of water.
3. The feed tank was filled up with the salt solution prepared in step 2. The feed is always be
to be maintained at room temperature.
4. The power for the control panel are turned on. All sensors and indicators are checked
whether it is functioning properly.
5. The thermostat are turned on and make sure the thermo oil level is above the coil inside
thermostat. Also, the thermostat are checked whether connections are properly fitted.
Note: Adjust the temperature at the thermostat to maintain feed temperature.
7. The unit is now ready for experiments.

Experimental Procedures:
1. The general start-up procedures was performed.
2. The experiment was started for Membrane 1. The valves V2, V5, V7, V11 and V15 was
opened.
3. To set the maximum working pressure at 20 bars, the plunger pump (P1) switched on and
slowly close valve V5. The pressure value was observed at pressure gauge and the
pressure regulator was adjusted to 20 bars.
Note: Use a proper wrench to turn the adjusting screw at the pressure regulator (PR1) by
turning clockwise to increase pressure and counter-clockwise to reduce pressure.
Warning: Do not operate pump in dry condition. Make sure V2 is opened.
4. Valve V5 was opened. Then, Membrane maximum inlet pressure was set to 18 bars for
Membrane 1 by adjusting the retentate control valve (V15).
5. The system was allowed to run for 10 minutes. Next, sample was start to be collected
from permeate sampling port and the sample was weighed using digital weighing
balance. The weight of permeates was recorded forevery 1 minute for 10 minutes.
Note: To collect sample, open valve V19 and simultaneously close valve V11.
6. The step 1 to 5 was repeated for Membrane 2, 3 and 4. Open and close the respective sets
of valves and adjust the membrane maximum inlet pressure for every membrane
according to below.
Membrane Valves opened Sampling Retentate Membrane
(step 2) Valves control valves Maximum inlet
Pressure(bar)
1 V2, V5, V7, V11 Open V19 V15 18
and V15 close V11
2 V2, V5, V8, V12 Open V20 V16 12
and V16 close V12
3 V2, V5, V9, V13 Open V21 V17 10
and V17 close V13
4 V2, V5, V10, Open V22 V18 8.5
V14 and V18 close V14

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

General Shut-Down Procedures

1. The plunger pump (P2) was switched off.
2. Valve V2 was closed.
3. All liquid in the feed tank and product tank was drained by opening valves V3 and V4.
4. All the piping with clean water was flushed. Valve V3 and V4 was closed, the feed tank
was filled with clean water until 90% full.
5. The system was run with the clean water until the feed tank is nearly empty for cleaning
purpose.

7. RESULTS
Weight Of Permeates(g)
Time(min)
Membrane 1 Membrane 2 Membrane 3 Membrane 4
1 49.18 102.76 67.52 370.41
2 89.35 201.12 130.99 731.31
3 128.98 299.89 194.22 1096.74
4 169.74 398.51 256.92 1462.95
5 209.38 497.65 324.92 1823.66
6 248.88 598.06 401.11 2189.98
7 287.98 709.89 475.92 2545.22
8 327.46 812.94 550.74 3041.61
9 367.24 919.4 625.36 3538
10 405.86 1026.63 701.92 3888.98

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 Graph Permeate Weight Vs Time
4500

4000

3500

3000
Permeate Weight

2500

2000

1500

1000

500

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Time
Membrane 1 (RO) Membrane 2 (UF)

Membrane 3 (NF) Membrane 4 (MF)

8. DISCUSSION

From conducting the experiment the aim of the experiment which is to study the
characteristic on four different types of membrane and the membrane separation process is fulfilled.
By using the SOLTEQ Membrane Test Unit (TR14) we had observed the characteristic of each
membrane and find out that the membrane separation technique separates the substance without
using heat energy.

As stated before in the SOLTEQ Membrane Test Unit (TR14) there are four types of
different membrane which is reverse osmosis(RO), nano filtration(NF), ultra filtration(UF) and
lastly micro filtration(MO) membranes which are the membrane AFC99, AFC40, CA202 and
FTP100 respectively. In this experiment, all membrane had been set to not exceed the maximum
operation pressure of the membrane where every membrane had been set to a certain maximum
pressure which is then the sample is allowed to permeate for 10 minutes. For every 1 minutes
interval, the weight of permeate was recorded and this is repeated for every membrane in the unit.

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 The data recorded for the weight of permeate in this experiment for membrane 1 after 10
minutes is 405.86g, for membrane 2 is 1026.63g, for membrane 3 is 701.92g and for membrane 4
is 3888.98g. The membrane that got the highest permeate weight after 10 minutes recorded is
membrane 4. Next, from the data of weight of permeate in 10 minutes for each membrane, a graph
of permeate weight vs time is plotted. From the graph it shows that the weight of permeates
increases uniformly as the time goes on and gives a beautifully curved graph. Also, from the graph
it shows that each membrane have different permeation rate where the highest permeation rate is
membrane 4(MF) followed by membrane 2(NF) and membrane 3(UF). The lowest permeation rate
is the membrane 1(RO). Membrane 4 have the highest permeation rate because it is most due to
its hydrophobic property, whereas membrane 3 has the lowest permeation rate is most probably
due to its hydrophilic property. The membrane separates a wide range of particle sizes ranging
from mono ions to macromolecules.

The characteristics of the four membranes is such as the table below:

No. Membrane Specification pH Operating Operating Apparent Hydro Solvent
range Pressure Temperature Retention philicity Resistance
Character
1 CA202 Reverse 2- 25 30C 2000MW 5 +
(Cellulose Osmosis 7.25
acetate)
2 AFC40 Ultra 1.5- 60 60C 60% CaCl2 4 ++
(Polyamide Filtration 9.5
Film)
3 AFC99 Nano 1.5- 64 80C 99% NaCl 3 ++
(Polyamide Filtration 12
Film)
4 FP100 Micro 1.5- 10 80C 100,000MW 1 +++
(PVDF) Filtration
12

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 9. CONCLUSION
The aim of this experiment is to study the characteristics of the four different types
of membrane in the membrane Separation Unit (TR14) by using 100g of NaCl in 20L of water.
In conclusion, membrane 4(Micro Filtration) have the highest permeate weight after 10
minutes which is 3888.98g, where membrane 1 have the lowest permeate weight after 10
minutes which is 405.86g. From the theory, the permeate weight recorded for each membrane
should be different due to them having different maximum inlet pressure used. From the data
recorded, we can conclude that membrane 4 is the fastest separation process and membrane 1
is the slowest separation process. From the graph plotted from the data recorded, it shows that
the permeate weight increases proportionally as time increases. Finally, the experiment done
is a success.

10. RECOMMENDATION

There are a few recommendation so that the experiment result is more accurate.

i. Make sure that before starting the experiment, the maximum pressure in the system is
set to 20bars because if the pressure exceeded 20bars, the membrane will break while
if it is lower than 20 bars, it will not be suitable for each membrane used in this system.
ii. While opening the valve for each membrane make sure to open the correct valve
according to the procedure to avoid opening valves for other membrane.
iii. When recording the permeate weight by looking at the digital weighing machine, make
sure to record the weight at exactly 1 minutes for each recording to increase the
accuracy of the reading since the reading increases fastly.
iv. Make sure that the container used to collect the permeate is large enough so that the
permeate will not flows out of the container and can avoid changing container when
its full
v. Do not operate the pump in dry condition therefore the valve 2 is needed to be ensure
to be opened because if the pump is operating at dry condition, some break down can
occur.

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 vi. The system should be run for 10 minutes after the pressure is set so that the system and
membrane maximum inlet pressure is more stabilized in order to get the accurate
weight of the permeates.

11. REFERENCES

UiTM Membrane Separation Lab Manual

SOLTEQ Membrane Test Unit (TR14)
Membrane Separation Technology Primer. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from
https://www.asahi-kasei.co.jp/membrane/microza/en/kiso/index.html
Introduction to Membranes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from
http://www.separationprocesses.com/Membrane/MT_Chp01.htm
Tubular Membranes. (n.d.). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from
http://www.pcimembranes.pl/download/13/Membrane-Information.pdf

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 12. APPENDICES

10 | P a g e
11 | P a g e
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14 | P a g e
15 | P a g e