Characterization of mixing in a hollow fiber membrane contactor by the iodide–iodate method: Numerical simulations and experiments

This paper presents numerical simulations and experimental data on the iodide–iodate reaction in a hollow fiber membrane device. The principle of reactive mixing in a membrane device is the following. Component A flows through the inlet of the lumen side and component B comes from the membrane pores (shell side). Components A and B then mix and react inside the lumen side. Experimental measurements of the segregation index were carried out under various experimental conditions and for two different hollow fiber devices. The numerical and experimental segregation indexes, XS, were found in the range 10−2–10−3, indicating effective mixing. The numerical simulations showed that I3− ions were produced mainly in the first part of the lumen side of the hollow fiber. This confirmed our previous results on precipitation which showed that high supersaturation data and experimental fouling were obtained in this part of the hollow fibers.