Fouling behaviour and its impact on the rejection of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) by forward osmosis (FO) were investigated.Membrane fouling was simulated using humic acid and colloidal particles asmodel foulants at different initial permeatewater fluxes.Water flux declinewas insignificant at an initial permeate flux of 9 L/m2h and the fouling layerwas loose and fluid-like. By contrast, t...

A mass transfer model is proposed for prediction of permeate concentration and percent rejection at different inlet pressures and feed dye concentrations in membrane ultrafiltration. A differential equation in cylindrical co-ordinates considering the spiral wound membrane equivalent to a cylindrical module is derived which coupled with mass balance and permeate flux equations are solved to yiel...

Cross-flow microfiltration (MF) processes were studied with oily wastewater using a ceramic ( -Al2O3) membrane with 50 nm pore size. The nfluence of parameters such as transmembrane pressure (TMP), cross-flow velocity (CFV), oil concentration in feed, pH and salt concentration n the separation behaviors were investigated by the measurements of permeate flux, total organic carbon (TOC) removal e...

Experimental investigations were conducted to evaluate the performance 01 n"nofillration fOr tertiary level phosphate removal from wastewater. A flat sheet type Oesal-5 thin 5lul nanofi)tration membrane in a plate and frame module, was IJsed. The inIIuc.nce of pressure. initial feed roncentntion, competing compounds, on nanoflllration performance were determined. TIlecxperimelltal study range o...

Osmotic backwash experiments were conducted and analytical model was developed in attempt to describe the backwash mechanism. A single unit of a spiral wound RO membrane was used in the experiments. The RO membrane was fed by salted water solution. Permeate flux characteristics of the membrane were determined through steadystate RO experiments. Then the system was shiRed immediately to a backwa...

Multi-objective optimization using genetic algorithm (GA) is carried out for the desalination of brackish and sea water using spiral wound or tubular modules. A few sample optimization problems involving two and three objective functions are solved, both for the operation of an existing plant (which is almost trivial), as well as, for the design of new plants (associated with a higher degree of...

The effectiveness of microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) for nutrient recovery from a thin stillage stream was determined. When a stainless steel MF membrane (0.1microm pore size) was used, the content of solids increased from 7.0% to 22.8% with a mean permeate flux rate of 45L/m(2)/h (LMH), fat increased and ash content decreased. UF experiments were conducted in batch mode under con...

BACKGROUND The separation performance of seven polymer membranes for the nanofiltration of sodium lactate in fermentation broth was investigated. Each module was introduced into the test stand, and the system curve was obtained by recording the permeate flow velocity at different pump head levels. Performance benchmarks were good permeate quality, as determined by high permeate flow velocity, h...