Aerosol filtration using hollow-fiber membranes: Effect of permeate velocity and dust amount on separation of submicron TiO2 particles

This work aimed to determine filtration performance of polypropylene hollow-fiber membranes in removing submicron particles from air. Experiments were performed in a chamber simulating dust environment with synthetic submicron-size particles (micronized TiO2). Ahollow-fiber membrane with 300 fibers of a filtration area of 0.43 m(2) was tested. By measuring number of particles in chamber (upstream) and on the suction side of the membrane (downstream), the filtration efficiency was determined. Two different weights of synthetic dust (50 and 100 mg) and two permeate velocities (15 and 30 cm/s) were used to compare their influence on particle collection efficiency. Particle counting was carried out using a TSI 3075 condensation particle counter connected to a TSI 3080 scanning mobility particle sizer in 32 particle size channels from 17 to 600 nm. Pressure drop evolution with intense particle loading was recorded and fouling of the membrane was observed after 25, 50 and 90 h of filtration using SEM. The results showed high efficiency, mostly higher than 99.9% with higher pressure drops compared to other materials on HEPA level. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.