AWWA MTC53831

Formation of fouling layers on membrane surfaces remains a major obstacle inapplication of membrane filtration as a water treatment unit process. Thehydrostatic resistance of the fouling layer is often the factor that controls the permeationrate and, yet, is hard to predict quantitatively. The detailed understanding of the linkbetween mechanisms of formation and resulting morphologies of the fouling layers is ofcritical importance for efforts to minimize fouling by controlling operational parametersand to optimize the performance of a membrane filtration unit.There is growing evidence that the morphology of colloidal deposits is determined bythe mode of long range transport of particles to the vicinity of a deposit, short-rangechemical interactions between the particles and the deposit, and the morphology of theunderlying substrate. The focus of the research reported on in this paper is theeffect of the surface chemistry of particles on the morphology of fouling layers. Differentsurface chemistries were simulated using a "lump" parameter - collision efficiency alpha . Anon-lattice Monte Carlo model was employed to study the effect of alpha on the morphologyof fouling layers formed from a monodisperse suspension in the course of dead-endfiltration. Here, the authors report on results of these simulations and discuss the implicationsof suspension heterogeneity for membrane filtration. Includes 11 references, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

05/01/2001

Number of Pages:

8

File Size:

1 file , 290 KB