Filtration of biomass with laboratory-scale submerged hollow fibre modules - effect of operating conditions and module configuration

The filtration behaviour of submerged hollow fibres, the effect of gas flow rate, feed concentration, module configuration and fibre diameter have been assessed by filtration of yeast suspensions. The fouling behaviour of the submerged hollow fibre was affected by the average imposed flux, flux distribution, and local critical flux. The results suggest that stable performance is obtained when the averaged imposed flux (J(mi)) is lower than the critical flux (J(cr)) although an initial deposition may occur due to the high local initial flux. In addition, the module configuration had a critical influence on filtration performance. Comparison between tight and loose modules indicated that the loose module [1.0 > (fixed ends distance/fibre length) > 0.95] was significantly better than the tight bundle at high feed concentration or low gas flow rates due to reduced inter-fibre clogging. The study also showed that the smaller fibre was better than the larger fibre for filtration with bubbling with the submerged hollow fibre system. (C) 2002 Society of Chemical Industry.