Fouling mechanisms in the early stage of an enhanced coagulation-ultrafiltration process

Abstract

We investigated the fouling performances of ultrafiltration (UF) membrane for treating in-line coagulated water in an enhanced coagulation-UF hybrid process. Then we analyzed the fouling mechanisms in the early stage of UF using mathematical models and microscopy observation methods. Finally, we discussed the impact of aeration on membrane fouling in this paper. The results showed that a two-stage of trans-membrane pressure (TMP) profile during the operation of enhanced coagulation-UF membrane was observed, and the relationship between permeability and operation time fitted well with a logarithmic curve. Membrane pores blocking and cake filtration were confirmed as main membrane fouling mechanisms using the mathematical models. The two stages of membrane fouling mechanisms were further deduced, namely, the membrane pore narrowing followed by the formation of cake layer. Membrane autopsy analysis using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the membrane surface sampled from different filtration cycles also confirmed the mechanisms of pores blocking and cake filtration. Moreover, according to the variations of the permeability and membrane fouling resistance, aeration was able to mitigate and control the membrane fouling to a certain extent, but the optimization of aeration conditions still needs to be studied.

Keywords

coagulation-UF / trans-membrane pressure (TMP) / permeability / membrane fouling resistance / scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51278317). We would like to express our thanks to Tiantian Lü and Jie Chen for providing much assistance in this experiment.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg