MBR-15: Influence of membrane material properties on fouling in MBRs
Jozef Kochan |
RWTH |
10/2006 - 09/2009 |
The goal of this project is to establish correlations between measurable membrane material properties and sensitivity to fouling with different types of organic matter occurring both in drinking water and wastewater treatment MBRs.
Membrane materials provided by different companies active on the MBR market will be characterised by means of material property investigations and in terms of rejection properties (pore size distribution, molecular weight cut off, contact angle, scanning electron microscope, zeta-potential, etc.). The membranes will be tested under defined conditions with regard to the fouling sensitivity imposed by different matrices (activated sludge, sludge supernatant, effluent and model solutions containing major foulants e.g. polysaccharides, proteins and humic acids).
The tests will be carried out both with flat sheet membranes and hollow fibres in test cell scale. The rejection of organic matrices will also be investigated by means of Gel Permeation Chromatography.