{"id":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","oai_identifier":"oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:toledo1352121892"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/ohiolink/oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:toledo1352121892","repository":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","name":"OhioLINK","base_url":"https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/oai/oai"},"display":{"title":"Static Mixing Spacers for Spiral Wound Modules","abstract":"Membranes play a critical role in many separation processes ranging from nitrogen production to desalination. Membranes are used most commonly in the form of fine hollow fibers or sheets. The sheet form is used to produce spiral wound modules that permit the efficient contacting of process streams with the membrane in a compact form. Spiral wound modules are the dominant form used in reverse osmosis and Nanofiltration membrane processes.Spacers are used in spiral wound modules to create feed and permeate flow channels and to enhance mass transfer rates by reducing concentration polarization. Most spacers possess a ladder or mesh structure and rely on the generation of turbulence and eddies to enhance mass transfer. The literature contains numerous experimental and theoretical studies of how pressure drop and mass transfer rates depend on the geometry of these spacers.We present a new spacer paradigm. The spacer acts as a static mixer for planar flow channels and effect mixing without generating turbulence and eddies. Simulations of flow and mass transfer with the new spacer were performed using the computational fluid dynamics program, FLUENT. Flow visualizations clearly show how the spacer mixes the fluid. Furthermore, spacer prototypes were constructed and evaluated for mass transfer performance and pressure drop-flow rate characteristics. Significant enhancement in mass transfer was observed by experimental measurements for fabricated static mixer spacer. Experimental results were compared for the static mixer spacer, a commercial spacer and an empty channel and results in terms of Sherwood number, Power number and friction factor. Future works are proposed to have a better comparison for experimental and simulation results.","abstract_html":"Membranes play a critical role in many separation processes ranging from nitrogen production to desalination. Membranes are used most commonly in the form of fine hollow fibers or sheets. The sheet form is used to produce spiral wound modules that permit the efficient contacting of process streams with the membrane in a compact form. Spiral wound modules are the dominant form used in reverse osmosis and Nanofiltration membrane processes.Spacers are used in spiral wound modules to create feed and permeate flow channels and to enhance mass transfer rates by reducing concentration polarization. Most spacers possess a ladder or mesh structure and rely on the generation of turbulence and eddies to enhance mass transfer. The literature contains numerous experimental and theoretical studies of how pressure drop and mass transfer rates depend on the geometry of these spacers.We present a new spacer paradigm. The spacer acts as a static mixer for planar flow channels and effect mixing without generating turbulence and eddies. Simulations of flow and mass transfer with the new spacer were performed using the computational fluid dynamics program, FLUENT. Flow visualizations clearly show how the spacer mixes the fluid. Furthermore, spacer prototypes were constructed and evaluated for mass transfer performance and pressure drop-flow rate characteristics. Significant enhancement in mass transfer was observed by experimental measurements for fabricated static mixer spacer. Experimental results were compared for the static mixer spacer, a commercial spacer and an empty channel and results in terms of Sherwood number, Power number and friction factor. Future works are proposed to have a better comparison for experimental and simulation results.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Iranshahi, Ashkan"],"institution":"University of Toledo","degree_name":"Master of Science in Chemical Engineering","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Chemical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Lipscomb, Glenn"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012","date_published":"2012","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:08Z","subjects":["Chemical Engineering","Membrane","Spacer"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1352121892","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Lipscomb, Glenn"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Iranshahi, Ashkan"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2012"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Toledo / OhioLINK"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Chemical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science in Chemical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Toledo"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Chemical Engineering","Membrane","Spacer"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1352121892"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Membranes play a critical role in many separation processes ranging from nitrogen production to desalination. Membranes are used most commonly in the form of fine hollow fibers or sheets. The sheet form is used to produce spiral wound modules that permit the efficient contacting of process streams with the membrane in a compact form. Spiral wound modules are the dominant form used in reverse osmosis and Nanofiltration membrane processes.Spacers are used in spiral wound modules to create feed and permeate flow channels and to enhance mass transfer rates by reducing concentration polarization. Most spacers possess a ladder or mesh structure and rely on the generation of turbulence and eddies to enhance mass transfer. The literature contains numerous experimental and theoretical studies of how pressure drop and mass transfer rates depend on the geometry of these spacers.We present a new spacer paradigm. The spacer acts as a static mixer for planar flow channels and effect mixing without generating turbulence and eddies. Simulations of flow and mass transfer with the new spacer were performed using the computational fluid dynamics program, FLUENT. Flow visualizations clearly show how the spacer mixes the fluid. Furthermore, spacer prototypes were constructed and evaluated for mass transfer performance and pressure drop-flow rate characteristics. Significant enhancement in mass transfer was observed by experimental measurements for fabricated static mixer spacer. Experimental results were compared for the static mixer spacer, a commercial spacer and an empty channel and results in terms of Sherwood number, Power number and friction factor. Future works are proposed to have a better comparison for experimental and simulation results."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf","p.103","2.62 MB"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Static Mixing Spacers for Spiral Wound Modules"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Lipscomb, Glenn"],"dc:creator":["Iranshahi, Ashkan"],"dc:date":["2012"],"dc:description":["Membranes play a critical role in many separation processes ranging from nitrogen production to desalination. Membranes are used most commonly in the form of fine hollow fibers or sheets. The sheet form is used to produce spiral wound modules that permit the efficient contacting of process streams with the membrane in a compact form. Spiral wound modules are the dominant form used in reverse osmosis and Nanofiltration membrane processes.Spacers are used in spiral wound modules to create feed and permeate flow channels and to enhance mass transfer rates by reducing concentration polarization. Most spacers possess a ladder or mesh structure and rely on the generation of turbulence and eddies to enhance mass transfer. The literature contains numerous experimental and theoretical studies of how pressure drop and mass transfer rates depend on the geometry of these spacers.We present a new spacer paradigm. The spacer acts as a static mixer for planar flow channels and effect mixing without generating turbulence and eddies. Simulations of flow and mass transfer with the new spacer were performed using the computational fluid dynamics program, FLUENT. Flow visualizations clearly show how the spacer mixes the fluid. Furthermore, spacer prototypes were constructed and evaluated for mass transfer performance and pressure drop-flow rate characteristics. Significant enhancement in mass transfer was observed by experimental measurements for fabricated static mixer spacer. Experimental results were compared for the static mixer spacer, a commercial spacer and an empty channel and results in terms of Sherwood number, Power number and friction factor. Future works are proposed to have a better comparison for experimental and simulation results."],"dc:format":["application/pdf","p.103","2.62 MB"],"dc:identifier":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1352121892"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:publisher":["University of Toledo / OhioLINK"],"dc:rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"dc:subject":["Chemical Engineering","Membrane","Spacer"],"dc:title":["Static Mixing Spacers for Spiral Wound Modules"],"dc:type":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Chemical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science in Chemical Engineering"],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Toledo"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:08Z"}