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Doctoral Dissertations
Date of Award
8-1999
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy
Major
Biosystems Engineering
Major Professor
Greg J. Hulbert
Committee Members
Luther R. Wilhelm, Daniel Yoder, Paul Bienkowski
Abstract
Two-phase flow microfiltration successfully reduced the fouling problem for several microfiltration processes. Two-phase flow, created by introducing air into the fluid, increased the permeate flux 120%, 45%, and 40% for three different fermented biomass solutions at one hour operating time. For cheese whey microfiltration, the two-phase flow method successfully improved the permeate flux approximately 50% with only 5% air. Without the two-phase flow method, the permeate flux increased 20% when the liquid flow rate was doubled. Intermittent use of air was less effective than continual addition. Operating parameters of two-phase flow microfiltration, such as liquid flow rate and air percentage, were optimized based on permeate flux and energy requirements. The two-phase flow technique saved more energy and processing time than simply increasing the liquid flow rate. An economic analysis was performed to estimate the annual costs for scale-up of a cheese whey microfiltration process.
Recommended Citation
Liao, Wen Chang, "Flux enhancements in cross-flow microfiltration. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 1999.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/7476