The VSEP technology has developed as an alternative method for producing intense shear waves on the face of a membrane. The technique is called Vibratory Shear Enhanced Processing (VSEP). In a VSEP System, the feed slurry remains nearly stationary, moving in a leisurely, meandering flow between parallel membrane leaf elements. Shear cleaning action is created by vigorously vibrating the leaf elements in a direction tangent to the faces of the membranes.
The shear waves produced by the membrane's vibration cause solids and foulants to be lifted off the membrane surface and remixed with the bulk material flowing through the membrane stack. This high shear processing exposes the membrane pores for maximum throughput that is typically between 3 and 10 times the throughput of conventional cross-flow systems.
The VSEP membrane filter pack consists of leaf elements arrayed as parallel discs and separated by gaskets. The disc stack resembles records on a record changer with membrane on each side.
