Novel strategies for diagnosing the cause of short-term organic fouling in ultrafiltration

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe main objective of this study was to demonstrate the usefulness of a multi-strategic approach for identifying the extent and mechanism of fouling in the ultrafiltration (UF) of wastewater effluent organic matter (EfOM). In this study, we combined EfOM fractionation with spectroscopic autopsies for clean and fouled UF membranes. The EfOM fractions were sequentially removed from the wastewater effluent using relatively gentle techniques (neutral pH and no extractions). The residual EfOM samples were then used in UF tests. This work showed that resistance to filtration was partially reduced with the removal of particles (>20 nm), but almost all of the short-term fouling was eliminated with the removal of organic acids, which constitute 22% of the total organic carbon. The membrane autopsies were conducted using attenuated reflectance infrared spectroscopy for the top and bottom fouled membranes, and comparison was made with the infrared spectra of a clean membrane. Hydrophilic base/neutrals were the dominant EfOM constituents at the top of the fouled membranes. Hydrophobic acids were adsorbed onto the pore walls deep inside the membranes, which coincided with the permeability recovery of fouled membranes. The fouling mechanisms were examined by measuring the resistance to filtration as a function of permeate flux using various operational conditions and by investigating the effectiveness of hydraulic and chemical cleaning on the restoration of membrane permeability.