Wastewater effluent from alkaloid processing plants has the potential adverse environmental influences. Mathematical modelling and simulations were carried out using computational fluid dynamics of mass and momentum transfer in a hollow fibre membrane extractor. Conservation equations were derived for tyramine extraction in the membrane extractor and solved based on the finite element method. Model findings based on the computational fluid dynamics validated well with the experimental data. The results showed that increase in organic-phase flow rate, as well as the fibre length and its porosity, has a positive impact on the performance of the extractor, whereas the enhancement of aqueous-phase flow rate led to the reduction of tyramine extraction.
Keywords: Extraction; Membranes; Modelling; Simulation; Tyramine.