Evaluation of Novel Design of Feed Spacer for Spiral-Wound Membranes Through CFD Simulations and Experiments

Journal article

This study proposes an innovative spacer design for use in spiral-wound membrane filtration systems as a high-performance alternative to conventional woven spacers. By eliminating interwoven filaments, this structure fundamentally reshapes flow patterns while maintaining mechanical support. A novel aspect of this methodology is the inaugural application of coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the discrete phase model (DPM) for modeling microbial particle transport and deposition dynamics, which has been a critical gap in prior studies that focused solely on hydrodynamic analysis without addressing biocolloid dynamics. Numerical simulations demonstrated that the novel design reduces stagnant zones by a significant amount compared to standard woven spacers and achieves a greater velocity uniformity. For all eight configurations of the novel design, the DPM-derived microbial distribution maps revealed a reduction of circa 65% in particle colonization density on the spacer surface, and this reaches a 77% reduction for the optimal design. These measurements directly linking structural geometry to antifouling efficacy provide mechanistic insight unattainable through conventional velocity field analysis alone. Experimental validation using optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed a 40% reduction in TOC deposition, while confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) quantified a 54% decrease in biofilm viability through adenosine triphosphate (ATP) measurements. The incorporation of the optimal spacer in the plate-and-frame test module demonstrated that the lower degree of fouling caused both a 23% increase in permeation flux together with 76% lower energy consumption compared to the commercial design.

Authors: Wang, M; Li, Y; Bai, L; Field, R; Chen, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: MDPI
• Journal: Membranes
• Volume: 16
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 123
• Article number: 123
• Publication date: 2026-03-31
• Acceptance date: 2026-01-15
• DOI: 10.3390/membranes16040123
• EISSN: 2077-0375
• ISSN: 2077-0375
• Language: English
• Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; feed spacer; specific energy cost; discrete phase model; biofouling