Non-Isothermal Treatment of Oily Waters Using Ceramic Membrane: A Numerical Investigation

Abstract

Currently, the oil industry deals with the challenge of produced-water proper disposal, and the membrane-separation technology appears as an important tool on the treatment of these waters. In this sense, this work developed a mathematical model for simulating the oil/water separation by a ceramic membrane. The aim was to investigate the thermal aspects of the separation process via computational fluid dynamic, using the Ansys CFX® 15 software (15, Ansys, Inc., Canonsburg, PA, USA). Oil concentration, pressure, and velocity distributions, as well as permeation velocity, are presented and analyzed. It was verified that the mathematical model was capable of accurately representing the studied phenomena and that temperature strongly influences the flow behavior.

Oily Water Separation Process Using Hydrocyclone of Porous Membrane Wall: A Numerical Investigation

“…Cases 2 and 3, on the other hand, were used to evaluate the effect of the polarization layer thickness, and Cases 3–7 were used to evaluate the effect of the membrane rejection coefficient on the fluid dynamic behavior and separation performance of the hydrocyclone. Membrane rejection coefficients were established arbitrarily while the polarization layer thickness was calculated based on the literature [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 40 ].…”

“…The membranes have the characteristics of retaining oil droplets with a diameter below 10 µm, not requiring the use of chemical products, and of producing permeate with an oil concentration that meets the environmental legislation standards. For this reason, it has been the subject of studies by several researchers [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ].…”

Hydrodynamic and Performance Evaluation of a Porous Ceramic Membrane Module Used on the Water–Oil Separation Process: An Investigation by CFD

“…All potential assigned to the ceramic membranes justifies the intensification of scientific works that seek to enhance the treatment of produced water with this technology [29,31,[37][38][39][40]. In the literature, several studies have been reported using computational fluid dynamics as a tool to investigate the process separation of oily waters [40][41][42][43][44][45][46]. Cunha (2014) [39] numerically studied the treatment of petroleum industrial effluents using a ceramic membrane.…”

“…Magalhães et al [ 45 ] in their work on the non-isothermal treatment of oily waters, investigated the thermal influence on the oil/water separation process using a module equipped with a ceramic membrane. The authors observed that an increase in the temperature has influenced the fluid properties and the flow behavior inside the equipment, causing changes in the pressure, concentration, and speed fields.…”

Oily Water Treatment by Ceramic Membrane: Modeling and Simulation

“…Besides, solute accumulation at interface membrane/solution is inevitable. Because of the importance, several studies involving the membrane separation process with computer codes' aid based on CFD tools (Computational Fluid Dynamics) have been conducted, for example, Porciúncula [9], Vieira et al [13], Souza [14], Cunha [15], Cunha et al [16], Cunha et al [17], Magalhães et al [18], Souza et al [19], Magalhães et al [20], Oliveira [21] and Magalhães et al [22].…”