Dean vortices: a comparison of woven versus helical and straight hollow fiber membrane modules

Abstract A new ultrafiltration module containing woven hollow fibers was tested. The purpose of this paper is (i) to present ultrafiltration performance of the new module with dextran solutions and (ii) to compare the performance with those obtained in helical and straight modules containing identical hollow fibers. The effect of velocity on limiting permeation flux was studied and the same increase was obtained in the woven hollow fiber module as in the helical module. The energy consumption was also investigated and the woven hollow fiber module performed better. At a given energy consumption, the limiting flux observed in the woven hollow fiber module was higher than that in the helical and straight modules. Also pointed out was the lower stress of the fibers in the woven hollow fiber module than that in the helical module.