Fouling characteristics of microcrystalline cellulose during cross-flow microfiltration: Insights from fluid dynamic gauging and molecular dynamics simulations

The fouling behaviour of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) particles on polyethersulfone (PES) membranes was investigated using fluid dynamic gauging (FDG) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Experimental cross-flow microfiltration (MF) a dilute MCC suspension at 400 mbar transmembrane pressure 0.45 μm PES revealed an estimated layer thickness 616 ± 5 for both fouled re-fouled applied shear stress 37 2 Pa. A decline in pure water flux observed after each membrane cleaning flushing procedure, indicating that highly resilient layers were formed close to the surface. possible explanation formation obtained through MD simulations free energy profiles, which predicted deep minima interparticle separations cellulose–cellulose cellulose–PES systems. consequence this is attractive repulsive forces are balance specific distance between particles, suggesting high binding distances. This implies certain force needed remove or redisperse particles. also suggested contributions made by hydration negatively influenced adsorption onto membrane. These results highlight how experimental FDG measurements, when complemented with simulations, can provide insights into organic model material during filtration.