TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of various membrane fouling indexes under seawater conditions
AU - Hong, Keewoong
AU - Lee, Sangyoup
AU - Choi, Soohoon
AU - Yu, Youngbeom
AU - Hong, Seungkwan
AU - Moon, Jihee
AU - Sohn, Jinsik
AU - Yang, Jeongseok
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs (MLTM) for supporting this study through Sea-water Engineering & Architecture of High Eff i-ciency Reverse Osmosis (seaHERO) program.
Copyright:
Copyright 2009 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - In this study, various foulants are tested with the conventional fouling indexes such as silt density index (SDI) and modified fouling index (MFI) under high TDS conditions to evaluate the practical appliance of these indexes for RO desalination. A new approach for developing a more realistic fouling index is investigated based on flow field-flow fraction (Fl-FFF) analysis. The results showed that the SDI and MFI for the feed waters containing the particulate foulants larger than the pore size of the membranes used in SDI and MFI measurements were not significantly affected by the feed water salinity. This is due to the fact that the main fouling mechanism is the deposition of particles on the membrane surface and, hence, the cake filtration controls the permeate flux. In case of the particles as well as organics smaller than the pore size of the membranes, the SDI and MFI failed to accurately predict the fouling potential of feed waters with high salinity. In addition, the characteristics of membrane (i.e., hydrophobicity) also played an important role in determining membrane performance. Based on the results from Fl-FFF analyses, it was demonstrated that both qualitative and quantitative assessments of fouling potential of feed waters with different foulants and TDS conditions were possible.
AB - In this study, various foulants are tested with the conventional fouling indexes such as silt density index (SDI) and modified fouling index (MFI) under high TDS conditions to evaluate the practical appliance of these indexes for RO desalination. A new approach for developing a more realistic fouling index is investigated based on flow field-flow fraction (Fl-FFF) analysis. The results showed that the SDI and MFI for the feed waters containing the particulate foulants larger than the pore size of the membranes used in SDI and MFI measurements were not significantly affected by the feed water salinity. This is due to the fact that the main fouling mechanism is the deposition of particles on the membrane surface and, hence, the cake filtration controls the permeate flux. In case of the particles as well as organics smaller than the pore size of the membranes, the SDI and MFI failed to accurately predict the fouling potential of feed waters with high salinity. In addition, the characteristics of membrane (i.e., hydrophobicity) also played an important role in determining membrane performance. Based on the results from Fl-FFF analyses, it was demonstrated that both qualitative and quantitative assessments of fouling potential of feed waters with different foulants and TDS conditions were possible.
KW - Flow field-flow fractionation (Fl-FFF)
KW - Fouling index
KW - Modified fouling index (MFI)
KW - Silt density index (SDI)
KW - TDS effect
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U2 - 10.1016/j.desal.2008.12.029
DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2008.12.029
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:69549096224
VL - 247
SP - 247
EP - 259
JO - Desalination
JF - Desalination
SN - 0011-9164
IS - 1-3
ER -