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MEMBRANE
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ELSEVIER Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273
Abstract
The neural network theory was used to dynamically model membrane fouling for a raw cane sugar syrup feed stream. The
use of neural networks enabled us to integrate the effects of hydrodynamic conditions on the time evolution of the total hydraulic
resistance of the membrane under constant temperature and feed stream concentration. The results obtained satisfactorily model
the effects of both constant and variable transmembrane pressure and crossflow velocity as the filtration was followed through
time. The effects of the hidden network structure as well as the scatter of data on the quality of modeling are discussed in this
paper.
Keywords: Crossflow microfiltration; Neural networks; Dynamic modeling; Membrane fouling; Raw cane sugar
parameters that are difficult to determine experimen- ciple of calculation in a neural cell can be described in
tally [ 1-3]. two successive steps. The activations originating from
Hence, modeling techniques based on the direct anal- preceding cells (Aj) are individually multiplied by a
ysis of experimental data (descriptive models) appear coefficient w 0. This coefficient is called the weight of
to be a good alternative to the models based on phe- the connection; it determines the importance of the
nomenological hypotheses (knowledge-based mod- connection between cell i and the preceding one,j. The
els). As a tool of dynamic simulation, these black box sum of all pondered activations is then calculated to
models, although not explicative, can be used to rep- obtain the total stimulation of cell i, called S;. Following
resent the experimental results and are suitable to glob- the total stimulation of the neural cell i and with an
ally describe the considered phenomena. intermediate nonlinear activation function, f, the neural
The effects of operating conditions on fouling and cell then calculates its own activation Ai, such that
on its dynamic behavior are often not linear. Therefore, Ai = f(Si). In order for the network to represent phe-
the classical descriptive linear models cannot be used nomena with thresholds, neural cells, whose activation
in these cases [4]. Considering their features, connec- are constantly maintained maximum, are also defined.
tive models or neural networks should allow one to These particular cells are called either neural cells of
account for the nonlinearity of many phenomena that polarization or bias.
take place during membrane fouling. Hence, the multilayer perceptron is a whole set of
This study aims to establish and validate the use of neural cells organized in successive layers with non-
neural networks for the dynamic modeling of recurrent oriented connections among themselves.
membrane fouling. The methodology of neural net- Every neural cell of the same layer only receives acti-
works is applied to the particular case of raw cane sugar vations from the cells of the immediate preceding layer
syrup clarification by crossflow microfiltration, exper- (Fig. 2). The first and the last layers are called the input
iments were conducted under different operating con- and output layer, respectively.
ditions.
2.2. Principle of application
sigmoidal activation function given by Eq. (2), and a ondly, the application of neural networks to the filtra-
constant learning rate in the back-propagation algo- tion experiments conducted at variable operating
rithm. Details can be found in the work of McClelland conditions will be presented.
and Rumelhart [27].
4.1. Studies at constant operating conditions
1
f(x) = (2)
l + e -x
In the first series of experiments, transmembrane
Three criteria were used to take into account the devi- pressure and crossflow velocity were held constant dur-
ation of the predicted values from the experimental ing the course of the filtration process. Different pres-
ones. The mean quadratic error,/~ [Eq. (3)], directly sure/velocity combinations were tested. Fig. 3 shows
estimates the standard deviation of the error of the these graphically in parametric space. Following each
model. The variation coefficient, y [Eq. (4)], experiment, the evolution ofR t = f(t) was recorded for
expresses the quadratic error in terms of the percentage 120 min. One registration (data file) contained ~ 400
of the experimental mean value. The determination data points.
coefficient, R 2 [ Eq. (5) ], compares the quantity of the
information satisfactorily described by the model in
comparison to the total information. 4.1.1. Search o f a suitable hidden structure
Five experiments were carried out for the learning
stage to find a suitable network for our particular case
(Fig. 3a). This choice provided a good representation
/~= i=l (3) of the parametric experimental region (with one exper-
n-1
iment in the centre and four others regularly distributed
in the periphery) as well as a perfect symmetry with
J~
y = ~ . 100 (4)
respect to the two experimental parameters Ptm
and U.
Four experiments were carried out as test in order to be
n ^
representative for the parametric space during gener-
alization. Various mono- and bi-layer hidden structures
R2=(1 i=~nZ
(X/ X_~)
2/.100 (5) were then tested:
- Monolayer hidden structures: progressively increas-
g(x,-x)2J ing the number of neural cells from 0 to l 1 in a single
i=1
hidden layer, we found that the variation coefficients
where, on the considered data base, n is the number of from the learning base as well as from the test base first
experimental values, X; the ith experimental value, Xi decrease then pass through a minimum and tend to
the ith calculated value, and X mean of experimental increase slightly afterwards (Fig. 4). An optimum
values. number of hidden neural cells was thus found. The best
The experimental data were not prefiltered. The input results were obtained with the structure NN8.
and output values were centred at 0.5 between 0.05 and - Bilayer hidden structures: 16 bilayer structures were
0.95 taking into account the activation function [Eq. tested changing the number of neural cells from 2 to 5
(2) ]. In order to limit the local minima problem, four in the two hidden layers. The best results, from both
calculations were carried out after different randomized the learning and test base, were obtained with the struc-
initiations of weights between + 0.5 and - 0 . 5 . The ture NN5/3 (Table 1). This structure contains 8 hidden
best results obtained are only presented below. neural cells which corresponds to the number of neural
cells that gave the best results in the monolayer struc-
ture. This bilayer structure seems to improve the quality
4. Results of modeling. In fact, the total coefficient of variation
decreased by ~ 8% with respect to the best results
Firstly, the dynamic modeling of fouling at constant obtained with monolayer structures.
operating pressure and velocity will be discussed. Sec- Following these results, our study focused on the
M. Dornier et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273 267
A
W
[] []
[] []
A
W
m
m
Experiments used in
learning base
[]
• [] Experiments used in
test base
[] •
d • !
I m
u
~ 6
U (m/s)
Fig. 3. Different distributions of learning and test bases in the transmembrane pressure (Ptm) and crossltow velocity (U) region explored.
hidden structure that gave the lowest variation coeffi- almost superposed (Fig. 6). The four curves obtained
cient, i.e., NN5/3 (Fig. 5). Comparing all the experi- from the test base were also well represented by the
mental and calculated values from the learning stage, model although for the experiment carried out at 2.78
we see that the model represented the data in a very bar and 4.3 m/s, the model slightly underestimated the
satisfactory way: the calculated values were very close values (Fig. 7). Nevertheless, according to the R 2
to the experimental points and the five curves were value, the neural network NN5 / 3 allowed to represent
268 M. Dornieret al. /Journal of MembraneScience98 (1995)263-273
14.
4.1.2. Importance of the quality of information gained
12. during the learning stage
In the following paragraphs, the study of the effect
10.
of decreasing and increasing the quantity of informa-
tion presented during the learning stage on the perform-
6.
ance of the model will be discussed. The optimum
hidden structure obtained before is used ( N N 5 / 3 ) .
4 • , • , • , • , • , • , • , • , • , • , • ,
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Table 1 summarizes the principle results presented
Hidden neural cells below.
Decreasing the data in the learning base. In order to
Fig. 4. Variation coefficients (~/) versus number of hidden neural determine the quantity of minimum information
cells (monolayer hidden structures, filtrations at constant operating required, the number of data presented to the model
conditions, 5 experiments in the learning base). during the learning stage has been decreased:
- Four experiments in the learning base: it is necessary
to choose experiments in the centre and periphery of
the parametric region (in order to conserve a correct
representation of the parametric space). The distribu-
tion schematically represented in Fig. 3b was chosen.
It is noteworthy that this distribution does not cover the
whole parametric region studied and that it is more
Ill /~L'
representative in the region o f low pressures and low
× velocities. Three experiments were used for the test
base. The variation coefficients obtained in this case
X were comparable to those obtained with five experi-
× ments in the learning base. The decrease of information
~Ot did not have a significant effect on the prediction error.
W e found a good representation of various experiments
as before (Fig. 8).
- Three experiments in the learning base: the distribu-
tion in Fig. 3c was chosen. Two experiments were used
for the test base. For the network studied, the errors
Biases were significantly higher - twice as much - compared
to the results previously obtained with 5 or 4 experi-
Fig. 5. Schematic representation of the neural network NN5/3.
ments in the learning base. Therefore, it could not be
considered for the dynamic modeling of fouling during
Table 1
Effect of the quantity of information used during the learning stage on the modelingquality ( NN5/ 3, filtrationsat constant operating conditions)
700
600
Ptm = 3.00 b,,r
U - 5 . 0 m/s
500
4GO
=
200
100
£..
::1 Ptm = 2.25 bar
U = 4.0m/s
Ptm = 2.2S bar
U = S.Om/s
Ptm = 2.25 bar
U = 6~, m/s
vd~
J
_J~_.
=
o:
o 20 IOO 120 20 40 60 gO 100 120
600 P~m = I J O b a r (mlu)
U= S.Omh
=
[o. ]
100
ame (m~n)
Fig. 6. Total hydraulic resistance (Rt) versus filtration time obtained at different constant transmembrane pressures (Ptm) and crossflow velocities
(U). Experimental and calculated curves according to NN5/3 on the learning base.
7o0
~J
IOO
o
r • . , . ,
r
. .
I
.
a
.
i IJ
I .° x'l
Fig. 7. Total hydraulic resistance ( Rt ) versus filtration time obtained at different constant transmembrane pressures (Ptm) and crossflow velocities
(U). Experimental and calculated curves according to NN5/3 on the test base.
270 M. Dornier et al. /Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273
700.
- 500.
400.
300
0 Oq
0
200
100
, 500.
O
O O
~ 200.
100,
• i i u i u u
Fig. 8. Comparison between experimental and calculated total hydraulic resistance ( R t ) with 4 experiments in the learnning base (NN5/3,
filtrations at constant operating conditions).
the whole filtration time. After examining the different analysis of the variation coefficients showed a signifi-
curves, we found that the model did not represent sat- cant improvement of the performance of the network
isfactorily the beginning of filtration. However, the studied. Hence, the total quadratic mean error was
model showed well the fouling evolution in the quasi- diminished by 9% compared to the best results obtained
stationary phase. Then the learning base with only three previously. This model therefore appears to be better.
experiments allowed to evaluate the total hydraulic The curves obtained from simulations present a posi-
resistance evolution in time from 60 to 120 min of tive curvature in the quasi-stationary phase which does
filtration with a good precision. not coincide with the experimental observations (Fig.
Increasing the data in the learning base. The objec- 9). Although the mean error of the prediction has been
tive in this case was to quantify the effect of an aug- improved, these results do not appear to be satisfactory.
mentation of the quantity of information presented in Following these studies, a distribution with 4 exper-
the learning stage on the performance of the model. iments in the learning stage seems to be largely suffi-
This last distribution is represented in Fig. 3d. The cient to obtain a good representation of the whole set
M. Dornier et al. / Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273 271
300.
filtration experiments conducted under operating con-
ditions varied in time. The data collected in this second
part of our study also represents the evolution of
200.
_ ,, o s. R t = f(t). The operating conditions were varied during
~ 1517.
the start-up procedure with more or less progressive
increase of P~m and U [ 25 ]. Different recordings (data
100 files) were less homogeneous since the sampling fre-
0 Experimental
quency and filtration time were variable. A recording
50
,.. C . a l e u l a t t ~ l contained 250 to 440 data points. The learning and test
, , , , • , , . , , , , ,
bases were made up respectively of 4 and 3 experi-
I0 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 ments.
time (min)
The weights obtained with a learning base under
Fig. 9. Comparison between experimental and calculated total constant operating conditions were used for the mod-
hydraulic resistance (R0 with 6 experiments in the learning base.
eling of the experiments carried out under variable con-
Example at Ptm= 1.5 bar and U= 5 m/s (NN5/3, filtrations at con-
stant operatingconditions). ditions. In this case, we found that the model elaborated
did not satisfactorily represent the experimental data
of data. Since 2 experiments were considered for gen- particularly during the initial stages of the experiment.
eralization, a total of 6 experimental values will be A new learning base with experiments obtained at var-
required. The introduction of the filtration time at the iable conditions would be required to improve this.
input of the network, has allowed to diminish strongly When a learning base was acquired for time variable
the number of different combinations of pressure and conditions, the results obtained were considerably bet-
velocity to be tested experimentally to elaborate this ter. As can be seen in Figs. 10 and 11, the simulated
type of model. curves followed the same trend as the experimental
ones for the initial stages as well as after the establish-
4.2• Studies at variable conditions
ment of the quasi-stationary regime. On the whole data
The objective was to investigate the capacity of the base,/~, T and R 2 were respectively 43.1 × 101° m - 1 ,
neural models to represent the evolution of fouling for 16.1% and 87.4%. Only in the first part of the curve G
3OO
it
~g
100 J
A '~ . . . . . . . . . . . . B
0 .
'l
Fig. 10. Total hydraulic resistance (Rt) versus filtration time obtained with time variable operating conditions. Experimental and calculated
curves accordingto NN5/3 on the learning base (/~= 39.2 X 10~°m- ], y = 14.4%, R 2= 90.3%).
272 M. Dornier et al. /Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273
o Experimental I
• Calculated
6. List of s y m b o l s
Fig. I 1.Totalhydraulicresistance(Rt) versusfiltrationtimeobtained
withtimevariableoperating conditions. Experimentaland calculated Ai activation of the neural cell i ( - )
curves accordingto NN5/3 on the test base (/]'=47.4× 10~°m-~, mean quadratic error on Rt ( m - 1)
T= 17.9%,R2= 83.4%). permeate flux (1 h - 1 m - z or m s - 1)
Ptm transmembrane pressure (bar or Pa)
(test base), the hydraulic resistance was overestimated R2 determination coefficient (%)
for the first 50 min of filtration. No satisfactory expla- NNx neural network with monolayer hidden
nation was found for this deviation. structure: x neural cells in the hidden layer
NNx/y neural network with bilayer hidden structure:
x and y neural cells in the first and second
5. Conclusions hidden layer, respectively
g t total hydraulic resistance defined by Darcy's
The application of neural networks to crossflow law (m -1)
microfiltration has shown that these models allow a s, stimulation of the neural cell i ( - )
M. Dornier et al. /Journal of Membrane Science 98 (1995) 263-273 273
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