Fouling in Liquid Separation Membrane Technologies

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018)

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Department of Chemical Engineering, University Sapienza of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, Rome, Italy
Interests: chemical engineering; process development and control; process intensification; wastewater treatment processes; nanoparticles production; membrane processes; membrane fouling; photocatalysis
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I kindly invite you to submit your research works, concerning fouling observed during liquid separation by membranes, to this Special Issue of Membranes.

The problem of membrane fouling is one of the major drawbacks of membrane technologies, and it appears that fouling inhibition, avoidance and/or control may be a suitable route to make membrane processes more reliable in the future. This Special Issue encourages the submission of general works on membrane fouling, and, in particular:

  • Case studies on membrane systems characterized by a constant or sudden permeate flux reduction as a function of time
  • Review of historical process data from membrane systems that exhibit a reduction of performances as a function of time due to fouling
  • Studies of fouling formation and growth on membrane surfaces
  • Development of statistic and/or mathematical models of the ongoing fouling on membrane systems as a function of time
  • Critical flux, threshold flux, sustainable flux, boundary flux studies
  • Advanced control systems for membrane processes for fouling formation inhibition
  • Membrane surface modification studies to inhibit fouling formation
  • Biofouling
  • Development of new devices, equipment, modules or process design for fouling inhibition purposes
  • Cleaning and/or washing procedures to eliminate fouling formation on membranes

Membranes is an open access peer-reviewed international scientific journal indexed on Scopus: I hope that you might join this opportunity for publication of your work.

Prof. Dr. Marco Stoller
Prof. Dr. Javier Miguel Ochando Pulido
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • fouling
  • microfiltration
  • ultrafiltration
  • nanofiltration
  • reverse osmosis
  • separation.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

10 pages, 830 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Flux Performance of Different RO/NF Membranes in the Treatment of Agroindustrial Wastewater by Means of the Boundary Flux Theory
by Javier M. Ochando-Pulido, Antonio Martínez-Férez and Marco Stoller
Membranes 2019, 9(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes9010002 - 26 Dec 2018
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4029
Abstract
Dynamic membrane system behaviour must be adequately addressed to avoid process unfeasibility. The lack of proper analysis will mean relying on erroneous permeate flux values in the system design, which will lead to quick and/or steady high fouling rates. In this paper, the [...] Read more.
Dynamic membrane system behaviour must be adequately addressed to avoid process unfeasibility. The lack of proper analysis will mean relying on erroneous permeate flux values in the system design, which will lead to quick and/or steady high fouling rates. In this paper, the authors present additional data supporting the boundary flux theory as a helpful tool for membrane engineers to carefully avoid process failures. By fitting the dynamic permeate flux data to the boundary flux model, it was possible to calculate the β fouling index for the three selected membranes (one nanofiltration (NF) and two reverse osmosis (RO) ones). The dynamic flux given by the low-pressure RO membrane did not follow sub-boundary operating conditions, since a sharp flux loss was measured throughout the whole operating cycle, pinpointing that supra-boundary flux conditions were governing the system. This was supported by the calculated value of the β fouling parameter, which resulted to be in the order of ten times higher for this membrane. However, the values of β→0 for the SC-RO and DK-NF ones, supported by the very low value of the sub-boundary fouling parameter α (0.002 and 0.007 L·h−1·m−2·bar−2, respectively), ensure nearly boundary operating conditions for these membranes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fouling in Liquid Separation Membrane Technologies)
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17 pages, 2095 KiB  
Article
A Contribution for the Valorisation of Sheep and Goat Cheese Whey through Nanofiltration
by Antónia Macedo, Joana Monteiro and Elizabeth Duarte
Membranes 2018, 8(4), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes8040114 - 20 Nov 2018
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4242
Abstract
The amount of cheese whey generated from the production of speciality sheep and goat cheese is significantly growing due to the acclaimed nutritional and medicinal benefits of the milk from these species. However, most of the cheese whey generated has no applications, thus [...] Read more.
The amount of cheese whey generated from the production of speciality sheep and goat cheese is significantly growing due to the acclaimed nutritional and medicinal benefits of the milk from these species. However, most of the cheese whey generated has no applications, thus giving rise to environmental problems. This work focuses on the study of the performance of the nanofiltration process for recovering the permeates of ultrafiltration from sheep and goat cheese whey. Nanofiltration experiments were carried out with membranes of nanofiltration (NF) in total recirculation and concentration modes, at 25 °C. Nanofiltration of the ultrafiltration permeates from sheep cheese whey was done at a pressure of 3.0 × 106 Pa and a circulation velocity of 1.42 m·s−1, until a volume concentration factor (VCF) of 2.5. Nanofiltration of the permeates from ultrafiltration of goat cheese whey was performed at a pressure of 2.0 × 106 Pa and a circulation velocity of 0.94 m·s−1, until a VCF of 2.0. From the results, it was concluded that osmotic pressure was the most important factor affecting the performance of the process. In both cases, the final permeates had a much lower organic load and its future use in the process of cheese making should be evaluated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Fouling in Liquid Separation Membrane Technologies)
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