In this research, membrane life-time is evaluated by means of accelerated ageing
experiments. In the performed experiments three main ageing factors are varied, namely
mechanical stress (back-pulsing), chemicals exposure (cleaning with oxidative
chemicals) and the membrane fouling status. A pressure-pulse-unit (PPU) was used to
simulate standard membrane operation in an accelerated way. The PPU can be used to
back-pulse cleaning agents with a frequency of around twenty to thirty times per minute
through a membrane module. During the back-pulses, the membranes are frequently
tested for integrity by means of permeability measurements, pressure decay test and
bubble tests. The magnitude of a pressure pulse, the concentration of cleaning agent and
the fouling status of the membrane were varied. The outcomes of the experiments show
that the membrane fouling status is a major ageing factor. Clean membranes easily
withstand 300.000 back-pulses with 1000 ppm NaClO at 2.0 bars, respectively, 10 years
of operation and 350.000 ppm.h sodium hypo chlorite exposure. The collected data will
be used in the further development of a mathematical membrane-life-time model that
predicts the probability of membrane failure. Includes 17 references, table, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 340 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 10 |
| Published : | 03/01/2007 |
