Fouling mechanism and control strategy of inorganic membrane

Abstract

Compared with the traditional treatment technologies, inorganic membrane technology is gradually becoming the mainstream of the treatment of oily and salty wastewater, but membrane fouling has become the bottleneck restricting the development of membrane technology. In order to solve this problem, the mechanism of membrane fouling and the control strategies of membrane fouling are introduced in this paper. The atomic layer deposition technology and the preparation of TiO2 nanowires (NWs) film by impregnation method were mainly introduced, aiming to provide a more reliable industrial research status in the field of membrane fouling control.

Fouling and Chemical Cleaning of Microfiltration Membranes: A Mini-Review

“…Fouling is the accumulation of particles, macromolecules, biomolecules, salts, and colloids, etc., on the membrane surface or within the pore structure. Recently many studies have focused on mainly oil [24,25], organic algae [26], proteins [27], colloidal material [28], and organic matter foulants [29]. Characterization of the foulants is important to determine whether they accumulate on the surface of the membrane or within the pores.…”

“…Several types of membrane fouling have been identified based on the chemical nature of foulants, membrane process, and types of foulants as well as their interaction with the membrane surface. Microfiltration fouling may include (a) inorganic fouling/scaling, (b) particle/colloidal fouling, (c) microbial/biological fouling, and (d) organic fouling [ 23 , 24 ]. In detail: (a) inorganic fouling is the accumulation of inorganic precipitates such as metal hydroxides on the membrane surface or within pore structures, (b) particulate/colloidal fouling includes algae, bacteria, some natural organic matter, and colloids, (c) biofouling, which is the formation of biofilms on the membrane surface.…”

“…In detail: (a) inorganic fouling is the accumulation of inorganic precipitates such as metal hydroxides on the membrane surface or within pore structures, (b) particulate/colloidal fouling includes algae, bacteria, some natural organic matter, and colloids, (c) biofouling, which is the formation of biofilms on the membrane surface. As a result of microbial activity, these biofilms (algal, bacterial, or fungal) form and extricate biopolymers (polysaccharides, proteins, and amino sugars), (d) organic fouling includes proteins, amino sugars, polysaccharides, and polyoxy aromatics [ 24 , 25 ]. Figure 1 illustrates these four fouling types, and Table 4 shows the fouling mechanism of fouling types [ 41 ].…”

Advanced Functional Membranes for Microfiltration and Ultrafiltration

“…Fouling of membrane is also differentiated by the mechanism of its appearance and thus divided into four types (as shown in Several factors affecting the mechanism of fouling of membrane are size of solute or particle; structure of membrane (MF and UF membrane); interaction between solvent, solute, and membrane; and membrane porosity. Recently many research work has focused on proteins [50], algae [51], colloidal materials [52], oil [53,54], and organic matter foulants [55]. The functionality of MF and UF membrane solely depends on their fouling properties and various researchers have improved many strategies for its minimization or removal.…”

Mechanistic understanding of internal membrane fouling via real time monitoring techniques during microfiltration

“…In the other way, if the foulant particle size is greater than the membrane pore size, it would be deposited on the membrane surface. In addition, several types of microfiltration membrane fouling have been identified [37], namely (a) inorganic fouling/ scaling, (b) particle/ colloidal fouling, (c) microbial/ biological fouling, and (d) organic fouling [38,39]. In brief, Table 2-1 shows the descriptions of the respective type of membrane fouling.…”