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Oral
Presentation 7-03 Industrial Membrane Filtration and Fractal Separation Systems
Thomas D. Fousta, Michael M. Kearneyb,
Vadim Kocherginb, Eric S. Petersona,
R. Scott Herbsta, Nick R. Manna and J. Richard Hessa aIdaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory P.O. Box 1625 2525 Fremont Ave Idaho Falls, ID
83415-2210 bAmalgamated Research, Inc. Twin Falls, ID
Telephone: (208) 526-0147; Fax: (208) 526-0690; E-mail:
foustd@inel.gov
The
complexity and capital costs of purification and separation represent a major
operational barrier in the conversion of crop-based renewable resources (i.e.,
cellulosic biomass including straw, corn stover, wood, etc.) into chemicals and
fuels. Biomass feedstocks are a complex
mixture of components and frequently contain large amounts of fiber, soil,
colloidal materials, and other contaminants.
New hybrid membrane filters designed specifically for eliminating
suspended solids and colloidal materials from biomass feed streams are being
evaluated to ascertain erosion and deterioration phenomena associated with
these filter elements. Understanding
the potential modes of membrane failure is facilitating prediction of membrane
life cycle operating costs and allowing improvement of the overall membrane
system reliability. The large capital
costs of chromatographic separators and ion exchangers are being addressed with
fractal fluid distribution. These
processes are very sensitive to liquid distribution within the columns. Uniform liquid distribution increases
process performance and hence reduces dilution and evaporation loads. Fluid scaling and distribution by an
engineered fractal cascade can be controlled and designed to be highly
symmetric. Due to fractal-related efficiencies,
ion-exchange softener cell size and resin quantity was reduced 10-fold. These technologies are reducing capital
costs and improving processing efficiencies for biomass conversion.
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