The use of heat treatment to improve solute rejection and fouling resistance of a polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was investigated in this study. Heat treatment was carried out by immersing the membrane samples in Milli-Q water at 70 °C for a specific duration. Heat treatment (24 h) reduced the pure water permeability from 4.1 to 2.8 L/m2hbar but improved conductivity rejection from 95.5 to 97.0%. As a result, a correlation was observed between changes in the two parameters. Marginal changes in the membrane surface characteristics (i.e. zeta potential, hydrophobicity, chemistry and roughness) were observed as a result of heat treatment. Heat treatment significantly improved the fouling resistance property of the RO membrane. When the secondary effluent was filtrated at an elevated permeated flux, the virgin RO membrane exhibited 30% flux decline while the heat-treated membrane showed only 12% flux decline. This is possibly because heat treatment resulted in a denser cross-linked active skin layer, thus reducing the blockage caused by small organic foulants.
Reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) are membrane filtration technologies that are designed to remove solute ions and molecules from a pretreated liquid stream. Well-designed RO/NF units are compact and demand relatively little maintenance, making them an attractive alternative to conventional treatment trains.
Even despite the merits of today’s efficient RO/NF technologies, it pays to understand common pitfalls associated with them. If your facility currently uses RO/NF or is considering purchasing...
Industry, hotels, commercial buildings even private homes in "Hard" water areas are at a disadvantage due to "Scale" formation on devices, particularly those attached to "Hot" water circuits.
A PHE (Plate Heat Exchanger) with a known “Scaling” problem is selected for testing. The attached case study demonstrates how with an “open mind”, even those sceptical of our products capabilities, do not dispute the achieved results. A simple to understand test procedure was followed. Information...
Membrane fouling, defined as the accumulation of particles and organic matter at the surface or in the pores of membranes occurs during membrane filtration. Membrane fouling results in membrane performance loss,i.e. lower rejection values, lower permeate flux and higher pressure drop, which translates into higher operational cost. The extent of fouling depends on the feed quality, operating conditions, membrane characteristics and module design.
Membrane fouling can be divided into three types: hydraulically...
Membrane fouling is considered to be the most serious drawback in wastewater treatment when using membrane bioreactors (MBRs), leading to membrane permeability decrease and efficiency deterioration. This work aims to develop an integrated methodology for membrane fouling control, using powdered activated carbon (PAC), which will enhance the adsorption of soluble microbial products (SMP) and improve membrane filterability, by altering the mixed liquor's characteristics. Reversible fouling was assessed in terms of...
With the purpose of improving the ultrafiltration (UF) efficiency, anionic polyacrylamide (APAM) has been used as a coagulant aid in the flocculation-UF process. In this study, the impact of APAM on UF efficiency has been investigated with regard to membrane fouling, membrane cleaning and effluent quality. The results indicated that the optimal dosage of APAM had positive impacts on membrane fouling control, membrane cleaning and effluent quality. According to the flux decline curve, scanning electron microscopy...
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