Residential air conditioning is responsible for a substantial amount of peak electrical demand and energy consumption throughout most of the United States. Coil fouling, the deposition of indoor dusts and other particulate matter on evaporator heat exchangers, increases system pressure drop and, correspondingly, decreases system air flow and air conditioner performance. In this paper, we apply ...

Critical fouling conditions were studied during wine cross-flow microfiltration using a multichannel ceramic membrane (0.2 mm). The aim was to determine critical operating conditions in order to limit fouling caused by wine colloids (tannins, pectin and mannoproteins) and enhance process performances. The method used is a square wave filtration based on the determination of the reversibility an...

This paper provides a review on the fouling mechanism and its effect onto the performance of finned tube heat exchangers in HVAC systems. Fouling tends to degrade the performance of heat exchangers by decreasing the heat transfer coefficient and increasing the air-side pressure drop across the heat exchangers. Air side fouling depends on a number of factors on the air side, including type and c...

Pre-treatment is normally required to reduce or control the fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in drinking water treatment process. Current pre-treatment methods, such as coagulation, are only partially effective to prevent long-term fouling. Since biological activities are a major contributor to accumulated fouling, the application of an oxidation/disinfection step can be an effective c...

The combined fouling during ultrafiltration (UF) of surface water pretreated to different extents was investigated to disclose the roles of polysaccharides, proteins, and inorganic particles in UF membrane fouling. Both reversible and irreversible fouling decreased with enhanced pretreatment (biologically active carbon (BAC) treatment and sand filtration). The sand filter effluent fouled the me...

Reverse osmosis (RO) elements operating at a low pressure (LP) or a low energy (LE) are generally called “LPRO” or “LERO”, and the nomenclature “LP” and “LE” are convertible due to the interrelated features of the pressure and the energy in the RO process. Not only can LPRO be operated at lower pressures, which enables energy saving, but also at the standard operating pressure with an enhanced ...

The spiral-wound element is an industry standard because of its high membrane area packing density, low cost of manufacture, and extensive installation base worldwide. Plastic mesh spacers create a feed-channel between facing membrane leafs and promote turbulent flow, which aids to reduce solute concentration polarization and related scaling and fouling phenomena. Computational and experimental...