Abstract
An osmotic pressure model for membrane fouling was investigated for predicting flux behaviour during ultrafiltration of reconstituted whey solutions, using a membrane of molecular weight cut-off value 20 000 daltons. Estimations of flux were conducted for three solutions: whey protein, whey protein + lactose and reconstituted whey, using physical properties of whey protein and lactose measured or obtained from published papers. Estimated fluxes of whey protein and whey protein + lactose solutions compared closely with measured values. Concerned with concentration polarization, this model made it clear that operating pressures were reduced mainly by the osmotic pressure of lactose rejected by the fouled membrane, not of whey protein. In the range of usual operating pressures (0·1 ∼ 0·4 MPa), fouling was an important factor of flux decline for ultrafiltration of whey + lactose solution. Thus, a less fouling membrane is preferable.
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