The effect of packing density on shell-side mass transfer performance of hollow fiber membrane module

The shell-side hydrodynamic performances of the hollow fiber membrane modules with different packing densities were measured. Their mass transfer performances were investigated both in theoretical calculation and experimental study. Based on the experimental results, the mass transfer correlation was obtained. It is found that with the same Reynolds number, the mass transfer coefficient increases with increase of the packing density until 60% and decreases again at a higher packing density. A better agreement was reached comparing the mass transfer coefficients obtained through the theoretical calculation and the experimental study, which indicates that the calculation method could be used to predict the shell-side mass transfer performance of hollow fiber membrane modules.