Modeling of Caffeine Separation from Water by Membrane using Finite Element Method (FEM)

In this work, numerical simulation of liquid separation process through hollow-fiber membrane contactors (HFMCs) using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is investigated. Simulations are based on solving conservation equations for solute in the membrane contactor. Simulations are performed for separation of caffeine from water by subcritical carbon dioxide in a 3-fiber membrane module. Simulation results were compared with the experimental data reported in literature to evaluate the accuracy of the developed model. The modeling findings showed an average deviation of 13% with the experimental data. Effect of physical parameters of membrane on the separation of caffeine was investigated to obtain optimum conditions. The simulation results revealed that physical parameters of membrane such as porosity to tortuosity ratio and inner diameter of fiber have remarkable influence on the separation efficiency.