Biofluid Flow Effects in Polymeric Membranes for a Range of Applications in Health and Environmental Sustainability

膜过滤在近几十年来得到了越来越广泛的应用。它的工作原理使其在血液透析、蒸馏或海水淡化等多种应用中具有吸引力。然而，血液透析和海水淡化的工作条件非常不同，前者在低压下运行，后者在极高压力下运行。由于实验的经济成本，选择最佳操作条件可能是具有挑战性的。近年来，随着计算能力的提高，数值模拟已经成为一种广泛使用的工具来改进所有工程学科的实践，对提高效率有很大的影响。该项目的目标是开发一个数值模型，以准确地描述一系列应用的膜过滤。计算机模拟将使用商业软件(如STAR-CCM+和COMSOL多物理)运行，然后将通过实验进行验证。计算工作将在斯特拉斯克莱德大学进行，为期数月，为实验验证做准备，兰开斯特大学将进行为期数周的实验验证。为超滤和纳滤设计的商用膜将用于实验设置。将选择不同的化学溶液(例如，水和蔗糖、水和牛血清白蛋白等)。在不同的物种组成中。将使用平板薄膜和中空纤维组件的CAD模型进行模拟。所选混合物的液体性质将被建模并输入软件。数值模拟和实验都将在不同的操作条件下运行(例如，压力、流量等)。主要的结果是跨膜的传质。计算软件包中的可视化工具将有助于理解膜过滤中常见的负面影响，如浓度极化和颗粒沉积。该项目的主要目标将是为特定的过滤过程找到最佳的工作条件和膜选择，以获得最大的效率，并深入了解流动条件对传质的影响。

Membrane filtration has been growing in use in the recent decades. Its operating principles have made it attractive for multiple applications such as haemodialysis, distillation or desalination. The working conditions of haemodialysis and desalination are very different however, the former being operated at low pressures and the latter at very high pressures. Selecting optimal operating conditions can be challenging due to the economic cost of experiments. With the increase of computational power in the recent years, numerical simulations have become a widely used tool to improve practices across all engineering disciplines, having great impact on improved efficiency. The objective of the project is to develop a numerical model to accurately describe membrane filtration for a range of applications. Computer simulations will be run using commercially available software (such as STAR-CCM+ and COMSOL Multiphysics) and will then be validated with experiments. The computational work will be done at the University of Strathclyde over a period of multiple months, in preparation for the experimental validation, which will be done at Lancaster University for periods of multiple weeks.Commercially available membranes designed for ultrafiltration and nanofiltration will be used for the experimental set up. Different chemical solutions will be selected (e.g., water and sucrose, water and bovine serum albumin, etc.) in various species fractions. A CAD model of the flat sheet membrane and the hollow fibre module will be used for the simulation. The liquid properties of the mixture chosen will be modelled and input into the software. Both numerical simulations and experiments will be run under different operating conditions (e.g., pressure, flow rate, etc.) with the main outcome being mass transfer across the membrane. The visualisation tools from the computational software packages will be valuable in understanding common negative effects that appear in membrane filtration, such as concentration polarisation and particle deposition. The main aim of the project will be to find optimal working conditions and membrane selection for specific filtering processes for maximum efficiency and to provide insight into the effects that the flow conditions have on mass transfer.