Colloidal Fouling of Nanofiltration Membranes: Development of a Standard Operating Procedure
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Department of Mechanical Engineering, 6-074 NINT Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G8, Canada
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Water Planet Engineering, 721 S Glasgow Ave, Inglewood, CA 90301, USA
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Suncor Energy Inc., P.O. Box 2844, 150-6th Ave. SW, Calgary, AB T2P 3E3, Canada
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Academic Editors: Marco Stoller and Javier Miguel Ochando-Pulido
Membranes 2017, 7(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes7010004
Received: 30 November 2016 / Revised: 5 January 2017 / Accepted: 12 January 2017 / Published: 18 January 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membranes and Water Treatment 2016)
Fouling of nanofiltration (NF) membranes is the most significant obstacle to the development of a sustainable and energy-efficient NF process. Colloidal fouling and performance decline in NF processes is complex due to the combination of cake formation and salt concentration polarization effects, which are influenced by the properties of the colloids and the membrane, the operating conditions of the test, and the solution chemistry. Although numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the influence of these parameters on the performance of the NF process, the importance of membrane preconditioning (e.g., compaction and equilibrating with salt water), as well as the determination of key parameters (e.g., critical flux and trans-membrane osmotic pressure) before the fouling experiment have not been reported in detail. The aim of this paper is to present a standard experimental and data analysis protocol for NF colloidal fouling experiments. The developed methodology covers preparation and characterization of water samples and colloidal particles, pre-test membrane compaction and critical flux determination, measurement of experimental data during the fouling test, and the analysis of that data to determine the relative importance of various fouling mechanisms. The standard protocol is illustrated with data from a series of flat sheet, bench-scale experiments.
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Keywords:
nanofiltration; membrane; colloidal fouling; water treatment; osmotic pressure; critical flux
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MDPI and ACS Style
Al Mamun, M.A.; Bhattacharjee, S.; Pernitsky, D.; Sadrzadeh, M. Colloidal Fouling of Nanofiltration Membranes: Development of a Standard Operating Procedure. Membranes 2017, 7, 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes7010004
AMA Style
Al Mamun MA, Bhattacharjee S, Pernitsky D, Sadrzadeh M. Colloidal Fouling of Nanofiltration Membranes: Development of a Standard Operating Procedure. Membranes. 2017; 7(1):4. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes7010004
Chicago/Turabian StyleAl Mamun, Md A.; Bhattacharjee, Subir; Pernitsky, David; Sadrzadeh, Mohtada. 2017. "Colloidal Fouling of Nanofiltration Membranes: Development of a Standard Operating Procedure" Membranes 7, no. 1: 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes7010004
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