Aplicação de membrana cerâmica no tratamento de água produzida: modelagem e simulação.

Abstract

Several technologies have been used to treat the water produced (water / oil mixture). Membrane separation processes (PSM) have advantages over other traditional methods of separation, however, some operational problems related to PSM, such as polarization by concentration, fouling and formation of the gel layer, cause a decrease in permeate flow over time. Under conditions where the effects of concentration polarization are minimal, the flow will be affected by transmembrane pressure. Thus, a study of the fluid dynamics of a water / oil mixture using ceramic membrane was carried out with the help of ANSYS CFX® Release 15.0 software. A mathematical model was developed with an incompressible fluid flowing in a turbulent regime. The equations of linear momentum, conservation and mass transport were solved with the aid of a structured mesh. The results of the simulation presented the following results: mathematical modeling numerically predicted the process of tangential filtration via the ceramic membrane in the treatment of produced water; it was observed that in very low flows there is a higher concentration of oil near the membrane while at high flow rates the oil is dispersed in the mixture, where the boundary layer is broken; the viscous effects do not present significant differences in the concentration and velocity profiles.