The importance of the multiphase fluid dynamics for fouling mitigation in MBR systems has been widely acknowledged with air sparging having been applied commercially for about 20 years. However, the effects of air scouring are still not fully understood since the transient orthogonal and parallel flows as well as turbulent eddies created by bubbling generate complex hydrodynamic flow fields in ...

In this study, the effects of ionic strength on membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) were investigated. Ionic strength in range of 0.005-0.05mol/L exerted no apparent impacts on the resistance of virgin membrane, fouled membrane and pore clogging. Thermodynamic analysis showed existences of a secondary energy minimum and an energy barrier in the process of the sludge flocs approachin...

This paper deals with time-optimal operation of batch diafiltration processes in the presence of membrane fouling. Fouling causes a decrease in membrane area and, hence, an increase in processing time. In this work we study a time-optimal operation with several fouling models available in literature. Pontryagin’s minimum principle is applied to characterize the structure of the optimal operatio...

Coagulation, magnetic ion exchange resin (MIEX) and biological activated carbon (BAC) were examined at lab scale as standalone, and sequential pre-treatments for controlling the organic fouling of a microfiltration membrane by biologically treated secondary effluent (BTSE) using a multi-cycle approach. MIEX gave slightly greater enhancement in flux than coagulation due to greater removal of hig...

High-energy demand presents a major obstacle in the application of advanced water-purification systems. In this work, energy minimization and fouling mitigation by iron-based electroflocculation in dead-end microfiltration were investigated. Highly pure water contaminated with Silica-CMP (chemical mechanical polishing) particles were pretreated by electroflocculation at short operation times an...

Oil–in–water emulsion separation is a challenging process in industries due to the large volumes of emulsified oil produced. Membrane technology has become more important treatment its high efficiency and straightforward operational procedure. Up now, microfiltration ultrafiltration are most utilized membrane processes for oil-in-water separation. However, deals with several problems. The prese...

Numerous membrane fouling studies have been conducted to predict and prevent membrane fouling. It was only recently that a new parameter, TEP, was introduced in this research. The deposition of TEP on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes has already been imaged, correlations between ultrafiltration (UF) fouling and TEP concentrations have been reported. Furthermore, TEP deposition takes place in an e...

Microfiltration of model cell suspensions combining macroscopic and microscopic approaches was studied in order to better understand microbial membrane fouling mechanisms. The respective impact of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and Escherichia coli bacteria on crossflow microfiltration performances was investigated using a multichannel ceramic 0.2 µm membrane. Pure yeast suspensions (5 µm ovoid...