Influence of flocs breakage process on submerged ultrafiltration membrane fouling

Wenzheng Yu*, Ting Liu, John Gregory, Luiza Campos, Guibai Li, Jiuhui Qu

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

36 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In order to explore the influence of floc characteristics on membrane fouling, flocs after breakage and re-growth were compared with those formed by conventional coagulation process when alum was used as coagulant. The results showed that, though the average size of flocs after breakage and re-growth was smaller than that without breakage, the fractal dimension of flocs after breakage and re-growth was lower than that without breakage independent of the dosage of alum. The increase of trans-membrane pressure (TMP) was lower when the flocs formed in breakage and re-growth process. When the dosage of alum increased, the fractal dimension (D2) of flocs without breakage decreased a little while D2 of flocs with breakage and re-growth was nearly the same. Moreover, lower dosage of alum (0.1mM) caused higher increase of TMP with conventional coagulation process, comparing with higher dosage of alum (0.3mM); while it was nearly the same when the flocs formed with breakage and re-growth process. The fractal dimension is an important factor influencing the increase of TMP compared with the average size of flocs, and a lower frequency of small flocs may cause a smaller increase of TMP. The characteristics of flocs surface changed after breakage and re-growth and this may also affect the increase of TMP.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)194-199
Number of pages6
JournalJournal of Membrane Science
Volume385-386
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Dec 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Floc surface
  • Flocculation index
  • Flocs breakage
  • Fractal dimension
  • Membrane fouling

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