Experimental results are presented for a two-fiber, bench-scale test that was
designed to evaluate the effect of setpoint flux, backwash frequency and backwash time on
long-term fouling rate of low-pressure membrane systems. In this study, an ultrafiltration
(UF) membrane was used to treat granular-media filtered, secondary wastewater effluent.
The fouling rate as measured by the decline in specific flux over many backwash cycles
was disproportionately lower for a lower setpoint flux (50 vs. 65 L/m<sup>2</sup>/h) and higher
backwashing frequency (10 vs. 15 min). The increase in backwash time (1 min vs. 30 s)
did not influence the removal of membrane pore blockage but reduced the rate of cake layer
formation significantly on membrane surface. However, this effect was larger at the lower
setpoint flux. The comparison of bench-scale and pilot-scale test also shows that the two-fiber,
bench-scale test is a very useful, first-cut approach for acquiring process design
information for pilot- and full-scale operation. Includes 10 references, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 390 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 11 |
| Published : | 03/01/2005 |
