Quantitative measurements of the concentration polarisation layer thickness in membrane filtration of oil-water emulsions using NMR micro-imaging

In this paper we report measurements of the thickness of the concentration polarisation layers formed during crossflow membrane filtration of an oil-water emulsion. The formation and development of the oil polarisation layers was visualised non-invasively using NMR chemical shift selective micro-imaging. A series of images was acquired during the transient state of the filtration, (i.e. while the polarisation layer was forming and the flux of filtrate was changing), prior to the establishment of steady state conditions. An estimate of the specific resistance of the concentration polarisation layers was then obtained by determining the average oil layer thicknesses and concentration at a given time from the resulting images and measuring the corresponding (length averaged) flux of filtrate gravimetrically. After the establishment of steady state conditions, the dependence of the steady state filtrate flux on crossflow Reynolds number was found to be consistent with Brownian diffusion being the main mechanism controlling the build-up of the oil polarisation layers, at least under our range of operating conditions.