Microfiltration cleaning

Pretreatment For most membrane applications, particularly for RO and NF, pretreatment of the feed is essential. If pretreatment is inadequate, success will be transient. For most applications, pretreatment is location specific. Well water is easier to treat than surface water and that is particularly true for sea wells. A reducing (anaerobic) environment is preferred. If heavy metals are present in the feed even in small amounts, they may catalyze membrane degradation. If surface sources are treated, chlorination followed by thorough dechlorination is required for high-performance membranes [Riley in Baker et al., op. cit., p. 5-29]. It is normal to adjust pH and add antisealants to prevent deposition of carbonates and siillates on the membrane. Iron can be a major problem, and equipment selection to avoid iron contamination is required. Freshly precipitated iron oxide fouls membranes and reqiiires an expensive cleaning procedure to remove. Humic acid is another foulant, and if it is present, conventional flocculation and filtration are normally used to remove it. The same treatment is appropriate for other colloidal materials. Ultrafiltration or microfiltration are excellent pretreatments, but in general they are... 

Among the numerous approaches studied so far to minimize such phenomena in ED, it is worth citing pretreatment of the feed solution by coagulation (De Korosy et al., 1970) or microfiltration (MF) or ultrafiltration membrane processing (Ferrarini, 2001 Lewandowski et al., 1999 Pinacci et al., 2004), turbulence in the compartments, optimization of the process conditions, as well as modification of the membrane properties (Grebenyuk et al., 1998). However, all these methods are partially effective and hydraulic or chemical cleaning-in-place (CIP) is still needed today, thus... 

Depth membrane filters are usually preferred for in-line filtration. As particles are trapped within the membrane, the permeability falls, and the pressure required to maintain a useful filtrate flow increases until, at some point, the membrane must be replaced. The useful life of the membrane is proportional to the particle loading of the feed solution. A typical application of in-line depth microfiltration membranes is final polishing of ultrapure water just prior to use. Screen membrane filters are preferred for the cross-flow microfiltration systems shown in Figure 7.1(b). Because screen filters collect the retained particles on the surface of the membrane, the recirculating fluid helps to keep the filter clean. 

The advantages and disadvantages of in-line microfiltration and cross-flow filtration are compared in Table 7.2. In general, in-line filtration is preferred as a polishing operation for already clean solutions, for example, to sterilize water... 

Nuengjamnong, C., Cho, J., Polprasert, C. and Ahn, K.H. (2006) Extracellular polymeric substances s influence on membrane fouling and cleaning during microfiltration process. Water Science and Technology Water Supply, 6, 141-148. 

Generally speaking, all microfiltration and uluafiltraiion applications require some form of periodic, disruptive cleaning to remove the foulants and thereby restore the membrane flux close to its initial level. The cleaning solutions and the procedures used industrially vary with the type of fouling encountered. 

FIGURE 20.5 SEM micrographs of a cellulose acetate membrane of 0.45 p,m pore size used in beer CMF experiments, (a) New, clean membrane surface (b) membrane surface after beer CMF. (From Moraru, C.I., Optimization and membrane processes with applications in the food industry Beer microfiltration. PhD thesis. University Dunarea de Jos Galati, Romania, 1999.)... 

Gan Q, Howell JA, Field RW, England R, Bird MR, and McKechinie MT. Synergetic cleaning procedure for a ceramic membrane fouled by beer microfiltration. J. Membr. Sci., 1999 155(2) 277-289. 

Microfiltration processing for clarification and defatting of cheese whey, for selective separation and concentration of micellar caseins from milk for various purposes, for fractionation of caseins and their peptides, for recovery of native whey proteins from milk, for gentle sterilization of milk to produce extended shelf fife liquid milk and cheese milk, for fractionation of globular milk fat and its components, for the reduction of microorganisms in cheese brine, and for the removal of colloidal particles in membrane cleaning solutions. 

Reverse osmosis preceded by microfiltration or ultrafiltration is considered as an option for the treatment of radioactive wastes from Romanian nuclear centers. Effective studies are carried on at Research Center for Macromolecular Materials and Membranes, Bucharest and at Institute of Nuclear Research, Pitesti aiming in employing these pressure-driven techniques for cleaning the wastes from decontamination of nuclear installations and reactor primary circuit [34,35]. 

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