Estimation of the structure dependent performance of 3-D rapid prototyped membranes

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2015-08, Vol.273, p.438-445
• Main Authors: Femmer, Tim, Kuehne, Alexander J.C., Wessling, Matthias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Additive manufacturing; Heat- and mass transport; Minimal surfaces; Rapid prototyping; Three-dimensional membrane
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2015.03.029

•Rapid prototyping of novel performance structures.•Fabrication of 3D-triple periodic minimal surfaces.•Systematic structure evaluation.•Analogy between heat and mass transport.•Superior structures for heat and mass transport. Novel rapid prototyping techniques expedite the fabrication of shapes and geometries, which have been inaccessible to date using common machining methods. The attained freedom of design is of paramount importance for advancing membrane science with unprecedented membrane geometries. We investigate such novel shapes and geometries for membranes and compare them to traditional flat-sheet and hollow-fiber architectures. We show a systematical approach towards expedient design by directly evaluating the novel membranes geometries. Previously inaccessible membrane architectures based on triply-periodic minimal-surfaces are manufactured and their performance is assessed using the analogy between heat- and mass transport. This way, we circumvent non-geometrical influences and identify other effects deteriorating membrane performance, for example concentration polarization. The novel membrane geometries outperform flat-sheet and hollow-fiber membrane architectures.