Mathematical Modeling of Mass Transfer through Porous Asymmetric polymeric Membranes

It is several decades that the application of membrane processes for gas separation has become a great concern within industries. Among them, the polymeric membranes of different structures have played the most important role. Such application has been widely extended to gas separation and due to the necessity of both; prediction of the behavior of these processes and recognition of the effective parameters on membrane processes, in this research a mathematical model of mass transfer through polymeric asymmetric membranes is presented. Within the dense section of the membrane, a dual sorption model is applied, while for the porous section, the average effect of the four flow mechanisms; namely Knudsen, viscous, slip as well as surface flow are implemented. Basing on the experimental values of gas permeances through different membranes and by using a proper optimization method, the available membrane transport parameters were determined.