CFD simulation and design of ceramic hollow fiber membrane stack for oxygen separation

Hollow fiber ceramic membrane technology demonstrates a great potential for high performance oxygen separation from air. Upscaling of single hollow fiber membrane for membrane stacks and modules is necessary toward practical applications. However, experimental methods are very time-consuming and highly cost. Mathematical modeling is a cost-effective technique and very flexible to evaluate different upscaling strategies. In this research, built upon the experimental results of a proof-of-concept hollow fiber membrane stack, a computational fluid dynamics-based Multiphysics stack model is developed and validated. Comprehensive simulations are conducted to understand the behaviors of stacks under different operating conditions. Different designs strategies are also evaluated toward optimizations of stack performance.