Search results for "Fluid dynamics"

CFD modelling of profiled membranes channels for reverse electrodialysis

2014

Reverse electrodialysis (RE) is a promising technology for electric power generation from controlled mixing of two differently concentrated salt solutions, where ion-exchange membranes are adopted for the generation of ionic currents within the system. Channel geometry strongly influences fluid flow and thus crucial phenomena such as pressure drop and concentration polarization. Profiled membranes are an alternative to the more commonly adopted net spacers and offer a number of advantages: avoiding the use of non-conductive and relatively expensive materials, reducing hydraulic losses and increasing the active membrane area. In this work, Computational Fluid Dynamic simulations were perform…

A parametric CFD study of hollow fiber membrane modules for hemodialysis

2022

Hemodialysis is a membrane-based process in which solute transport from the patient’s blood to a rinsing solution (dialysate) occurs by diffusion and ultrafiltration. Devices used in hemodialysis are cylindrical modules filled with hollow-fiber membranes which allow the removal of toxic substances and metabolic wastes from the blood, but inhibit the passage of proteins and cells to the dialysate. A predictive porous-media model of hemodialysis was developed and validated against experimental data. Unlike previous literature models, it requires only basic membrane properties (hydraulic and diffusive permeabilities and reflection coefficients) instead of relying on empirically adjusted global…

On the simulation of stirred tank reactors via computational fluid dynamics

2000

Abstract Predictions of flow fields in a stirred tank reactor, obtained by computational fluid dynamics, were used for the simulation of a mixing sensitive process consisting of two parallel reactions competing for a common reagent: A + B → Prod .1 A + C → Prod .2. Experimental data were obtained for A = OH − , B = 1 2 Cu ++ and C=ethyl-chloroacetate. For this reaction scheme the final selectivity of the process, easily measured by a simple colorimetric analysis of the residual Cu++, was found to depend on agitation speed and therefore on the mixing history during the batch process. The flow field-based three-dimensional simulations performed here led to predictions that compared very well …

A porous media CFD model for the simulation of hemodialysis in hollow fiber membrane modules

2022

A computational model was developed to predict the performance of hollow fiber membrane hemodialyzers. Blood and dialysate were modelled as fluids flowing through two interpenetrating porous media. Concerning hydrodynamics, experimental Darcy permeabilities measured for commercial hemodialyzers were used for both compartments. Concerning mass transfer, both diffusion and ultrafiltration were simulated. On the blood side theoretical Sherwood numbers for parallel flow in pipes were adopted. On the dialysate side Sherwood numbers were derived from CFD predictions for regular hexagonal fiber bundles. Solute concentrations on the two sides were alternatively computed in an iterative way and were…

Performance Comparison of Alternative Hollow-Fiber Modules for Hemodialysis by Means of a CFD-Based Model

2022

Commercial hemodialyzers are hollow-fiber cylindrical modules with dimensions and inlet–outlet configurations dictated mostly by practice. However, alternative configurations are possible, and one may ask how they would behave in terms of performance. In principle, it would be possible to depart from the standard counter-flow design, while still keeping high clearance values, thanks to the increase in the shell-side Sherwood number (Sh) due to the cross-flow. To elucidate these aspects, a previously developed computational model was used in which blood and dialysate are treated as flowing through two interpenetrating porous media. Measured Darcy permeabilities and mass transfer coefficients…

Suspension phenomena in solid-liquid agitated systems

2011

Flow and mass transfer in spacer-filled channels for reverse electrodialysis: a CFD parametrical study

2016

Abstract In reverse electrodialysis (RED) concentration polarization phenomena and pressure drop affect strongly the power output obtainable; therefore the channel geometry has a crucial impact on the system optimization. Both overlapped and woven spacers are commonly commercialised and adopted for RED experiments; the latter exhibit some potential advantages, such as better mixing and lower shadow effect, but they have been poorly investigated in the literature so far. In this work, computational fluid dynamics was used to predict fluid flow and mass transfer in spacer-filled channels for RED applications. A parametric analysis for different spacer geometries was carried out: woven (w) and…

CFD analysis of the fluid flow behavior in a reverse electrodialysis stack

2012

Salinity Gradient Power by Reverse Electrodialysis (SGP-RE) technology allows the production of electricity from the different chemical potentials of two differently concentrated salty solutions flowing in alternate channels suitably separated by selective ion exchange membranes. In SGP-RE, as well as in conventional ElectroDialysis (ED) technology, the process performance dramatically depends on the stack geometry and the internal fluid dynamics conditions: optimizing the system geometry in order to guarantee lower pressure drops (DP) and uniform flow rates distribution within the channels is a topic of primary importance. Although literature studies on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) a…

CFD simulations of dense solid–liquid suspensions in baffled stirred tanks: Prediction of the minimum impeller speed for complete suspension

2012

Abstract In the literature on mechanically agitated solid–liquid systems, several methods are described to estimate the minimum impeller speed Njs at which all particles are suspended, but few studies have been devoted so far to their critical comparative assessment [67] . In the present paper, several alternative Njs prediction methods are applied to CFD results obtained for selected test cases covering a broad range of suspension conditions and impeller speeds. Results are compared with one another and with classic empirical correlations [88] . The aim of the work is to assess the adequacy of different methods for predicting Njs and, more generally, to contribute to a viable CFD-based str…

CFD prediction of scalar transport in thin channels for reverse electrodialysis

2014

Reverse ElectroDialysis (RED) is a very promising technology allowing the electrochemical potential difference of a salinity gradient to be directly converted into electric energy. The fluid dynamics optimization of the thin channels used in RED is still an open problem. The present preliminary work focuses on the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of the flow and concentration fields in these channels. In particular three different configurations were investigated: a channel unprovided with a spacer (empty channel) and two channels filled with spacers, one made of overlapped filaments the other of woven filaments. The transport of two passive scalars, representative of the ions …