Sharif Digital Repository

Through our work, we conducted a three-stage solution to effectively reduce the impact of 'concentration polarization' and 'fouling' on ultrafiltration process. The stages were compromise of: 1. the design and selection of appropriate equipment along with outlining the operational parameters, 2. the pretreatment process design, and 3. the cleaning process design. Because of the presence of fat, there are incline both in permeate flux and the quality of the final product. Therefore, we studied the different methods of removing the lipid content, during pretreatment stage. After examining these methods, finally, we found that adding chitosan parallel with employing centrifugal separator is the... 

Surface modification of thin-film composite (TFC) polyamide reverse osmosis membrane was carried out using CO2-laser irradiation and Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma to improve performance and antifouling properties of the prepared RO membranes. Firstly, TFC polyamide RO membranes were synthesized via interfacial polymerization of trimesoyl chloride (TMC) and m-phenylenediamine (MPD) monomers over porous polysulfone ultrafiltration support. Next, CO2-laser irradiation with 10,000-40,000 pulses and DBD plasma with 15, 30, 60 and 90 seconds duration were used for the surface modification. The surface properties were characterized by ATR-FTIR, SEM, AFM, and contact angle measurements.... 

In order to increase the life-cycle of membrane filtration systems, energy efficient membranes are being developed in membrane bioreactor systems. Technology has been introduced which allows the power required to aerate the membrane for cleaning to be reduced whilst still maintaining a high flux level. Mechanical cleaning processes have also been adopted using granulates as an alternative to conventional forms of cleaning; this reduces energy consumption and also reduces the area required for filtration tanks.Membrane properties have also been enhanced to reduce fouling tendencies by modifying surface properties. This can be noted in the biotechnology industry where membrane surfaces have... 

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is a combination of conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane filtration which owing to its advantages such as high quality effluent and low excess sludge production, has gained increasing application in wastewater treatment. The major drawback of a MBR is the membrane fouling that reduces the permeate flux, which in turn increases the overall operational costs due to high energy requirements. In existing study, the combination of sludge oxidation and coagulation/flocculation addition was investigated for mitigation of membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor. Oxidation can facilitate sludge flocculation and hence improve the properties of mixed liquor. The... 

In this work, a numerical investigation on shell side performance of a continuous helical baffle helixchanger along with smooth and helically ribbed tubes using CFD commercial code, Fluent, has been performed. The results of simulation for this type of exchanger were compared to a similar heat exchanger with segmental baffles. The geometries are created and meshed using Solidworks and Ansys Meshing softwares, respectively. Mesh generation is carried out using unstructured tetrahedral type elements. Element size (or number of elements) are chosen in such a manner that maintain accuracy and reliability of results in a reasonable run time. Simulation validation were carried out by comparison of... 

This study aims to investigate the influence of important operational parameters on membrane fouling with the approach of fouling layers and to model these influences in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) for municipal wastewater treatment. At the first phase, 11 operational scenarios were executed using a pilot setup for identifying the system behavior and the optimal scenario. Protein and carbohydrate as the fouling components (SMP) and the transmembrane pressure (TMP) as the fouling criteria were measured in the tests. By studying the influence of operational parameters (sludge retention time (SRT), aeration rate and filtration mode), some useful results obtained for the next phase, including... 

Inappropriate performance of the air-cooled condensers in the process industry will make the flow out of the air cooler not fully condensate and its pressure is greater than the design value. This will lead to product loss and safety issues. In this study, factors affecting the performance of air cooler and various solutions to solve these problems have been identified. As a case study, the first distillation tower of the Ali Siana Petrochemical Complex, which disrupts its function in some months of the year, has been investigated. Aspen Hysys process simulation software simulates the naphtha splitter unit and the Aspen Exchangers Design & Rating software simulates the air cooled condesor... 

The forward osmosis (FO) process is a high potential emerging membrane process in the seawater desalination and contaminated water treatment fields. One of the main challenges facing this process is the weak separation (high reverse solute flux, low water flux, and insufficient selectivity) and antifouling performances of its membranes. Various sections of this study focus on the development of FO membranes and their performance improvement. For this purpose, thin-film composite membranes with the same combination of polyethersulfone/polyamide (PES/PA) have been used to investigate the effect of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) introduction on their performance. The support layer in all cases... 

The repair, maintenance and cleaning of marine equipment and ships, as well as the optimization of these operations to reduce their costs have always been of interest to researchers. After a few hours of floating in seawater, an inanimate organic layer forms on the surface of marine structures. After a few months, the thickness of this layer increases. This will increase the drag by 30 to 40 percent. Hull cleaning operation increases efficiency, saves time and money, prolongs equipment life and reduces maintenance and repair costs.In this project, the types of marine fouling according to environmental conditions were identified, next a type of fouling (Barnacle) was selected, which has more... 

One of the most efficient and effective methods of water and wastewater treatment is the use of membranes and can be a good alternative to traditional methods such as adsorption, chemical coagulation and .... One of the limitations of this method is membrane fouling, which limits its use in industry.In this study, ultrafiltration membrane made by phase inversion method from a combination of PVDF and SPES polymers and surface modified with hyperbranched polyethylene imine and its performance in cationic coating paint purification was investigated. Also, the performance of this membrane has been investigated by calculating the separation rate, pure water flux, contact angle and specifications...