The Effect of Multiple Fouling and Cleaning Cycles on a Tubular Ceramic Microfiltration Membrane Fouled with a Whey Protein Concentrate: Membrane Performance and Cleaning Efficiency

We have investigated experimentally the effect of repeated fouling and cleaning cycles upon the membrane performance (quasi-steady permeate flux, irreversible fouling resistance) and cleaning performance (water flux recovery, kinetics) of a 0.1 μm tubular ceramic microfiltration membrane and examined how they influence each other over a number of operational cycles. Whey protein concentrate was selected as a model food suspension. During microfiltration a constant transmembrane pressure of 1 bar, crossflow velocity of 4 m s −1 and temperature of 55°C produced a steady state flux within two hours. The two-stage chemical cleaning consisted of the sequential application of solutions of sodium hydroxide and nitric acid. The extent of membrane fouling did not vary substantially with cycles as determined from the calculated fouling parameters. Protein retention increased slightly over the last few cycles indicating a change in membrane selectivity. Cleaning efficiency assessed using the flux recovery did not decrease with cycles. Nevertheless flux recovery was generally lower than 100% and the hydraulic cleanliness criterion (i.e. (R n –R m )/R m

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