Development and validation of computational techniques for the analysis of hollow fibre membrane technologies

本研究旨在改进中空纤维膜扩散和蒸汽分离的建模和仿真技术。中空纤维膜（HFM）技术在开发生物燃料和氢气等可持续和可再生资源方面具有广泛的应用。拟议的研究项目将解决与使用计算流体动力学（CFD）建模HFM技术相关的关键问题。通过与Whitefox Technologies Canada（生物燃料HFM技术的领导者）的合作，将开发使用CFD分析HFM过程的可靠且强大的技术，并将发现HFM设备性能改进的新见解。研究成果将有利于可持续能源社区寻求采用先进的工程技术。高频调频设备通常由成千上万的亚毫米中空纤维束组成。气体和蒸汽流经这些纤维，这些纤维对不同的物种具有选择性的渗透性。这些装置的性能取决于装置内的流动特性和压力。因此，预测这些特性并评估它们对性能特性的影响非常重要——尤其是在探索新应用程序时。这种大型和小规模特征的结合为这些过程的建模带来了独特的挑战，因为准确地模拟大型设备，同时分解到最小的尺度是非常昂贵的。这里提出的研究将在纤维（微观）和束（宏观）尺度上进行模拟，并将创建模型来有效和准确地代表相关尺度上的传输现象。Whitefox的实验能力和广泛的性能数据库将通过提供有价值的模拟验证机会来支持这些努力。研究成果有望促进生物燃料、氢和碳捕获领域的努力，提供独特的HQP培训机会，并为加拿大和Whitefox的业务提供直接利益。

This research aims to improve modelling and simulation techniques for hollow fibre membrane diffusion and vapour separation. Hollow fibre membrane (HFM) technologies have numerous applications in developing sustainable and renewable resources such as biofuels and hydrogen. The proposed research project will address key questions related to modelling HFM technologies using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In collaboration with Whitefox Technologies Canada (a leader in HFM technology for biofuels), reliable and robust techniques to analyze HFM processes using CFD will be developed, and new insights into the improved performance of HFM devices will be discovered. The research product will benefit the sustainable energy community seeking to employ advanced engineering techniques. HFM devices typically consist of bundles of thousands of sub-millimetre hollow fibres. Gases and vapours flow through these fibres, which have selective permeability to different species. The performance of these devices depends on the flow characteristics and pressures in the device. As a result, predicting these qualities and evaluating their impact on performance characteristics is fundamentally important - particularly when exploring new applications. This combination of large- and small-scale features creates a unique challenge for modelling these processes, as accurately simulating large devices while resolving down to the smallest scales is extremely expensive. The research proposed here will perform simulations at both the fibre (micro) and bundle (macro) scales, and models will be created to efficiently and accurately represent transport phenomena at relevant scales. The experimental capabilities and extensive performance databases available at Whitefox will support these efforts by providing valuable opportunities for simulation validation. The research outcomes are expected to facilitate efforts in the biofuel, hydrogen, and carbon capture domains, provide unique HQP training opportunities, and provide direct benefits to Canada and Whitefox's business.