MATHEMATICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL-ANALYSIS OF GAS SEPARATION BY HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANES

Gas separation by hollow fiber membranes has been modeled by several investigators. However, there are no known reports of experimental verification of the models by direct permeate side measurements along the fiber bore. In this work, a mathematical model was developed and experimentally verified over a wide range of operating conditions for synthetic air and helium-nitrogen mixtures by measuring pressure, flow rate, and concentration profiles on the permeate side of the hollow fiber. Both countercurrent and cocurrent flow patterns are used, and the effect of permeate side radial mixing was examined. In general, the model predictions were found to agree well with the experimental results.