Critical flux and fouling mechanism in cross flow microfiltration of oil emulsion: Effect of viscosity and bidispersity

Abstract

Membrane-based filtration is promising for applications in the food industry, for example, for processing dairy products, but membrane fouling restricts the efficiency of the process. The deposition of the main constituents in skim milk of casein, lactose and milk fat globules onto the membrane due to the permeate drag is inevitable, which necessitates a mechanistic study of the fouling phenomena. The Direct Observation through the Membrane (DOTM) technique was used to understand the effects of viscosity and bidispersity on the microfiltration of oil emulsions. Deposits at the feed-membrane interface clearly slowed down as the feed viscosity increased. The higher drag to the crossflow as a result of the higher viscosity caused more oil droplets to foul the membrane. However, although both casein and lactose increased the feed and permeate viscosity, the presence of lactose did not alter the fouling phenomena of a moving cake layer of oil droplets much, but the presence of casein caused the oil droplets to deposit instead as clusters. For casein, other than the viscosity effect, it also resulted in a bidisperse suspension, with the smaller particulates promoting membrane fouling. Agreement between the experimental data and the shear-induced diffusion model was good at the lower cross-flow velocities (CFVs) but poorer at higher CFVs, which indicate that the effect of viscosity appeared negligible at the lower CFVs but more dominant at the higher CFVs. The DLVO model agreed with the Jcrit and TMP results. This study sheds light on the membrane fouling phenomena for viscous feeds, and are expected to be useful particularly for food applications.