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Initial Deposition of Colloidal Particles on a Rough Nanofiltration Membrane
Author(s) -
Rizwan Tania,
Bhattacharjee Subir
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the canadian journal of chemical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.404
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1939-019X
pISSN - 0008-4034
DOI - 10.1002/cjce.5450850502
Subject(s) - nanofiltration , membrane , reverse osmosis , particle deposition , surface roughness , chemical engineering , colloid , membrane fouling , deposition (geology) , cross flow filtration , permeation , filtration (mathematics) , fouling , particle (ecology) , materials science , drag , surface finish , ultrafiltration (renal) , polystyrene , chemistry , chromatography , composite material , polymer , mechanics , geology , mathematics , range (aeronautics) , oceanography , engineering , paleontology , biochemistry , statistics , physics , sediment
The initial rate of colloid deposition onto semi‐permeable membranes is largely controlled by the coupled influence of permeation drag and particle‐membrane colloidal interactions. Recent studies show that the particle‐membrane interactions are subject to immense local variations due to the inherent morphological heterogeneity (roughness) of reverse osmosis (RO) and nanofiltration (NF) membranes. This experimental investigation reports the effect of membrane roughness on the initial deposition of polystyrene latex particles on a rough NF membrane during cross flow membrane filtration under different operating pressures and solution chemistries. Atomic force microscopy was used to characterize the roughness of the membrane and observe the structure of particle deposits. At the initial stages of fouling, the AFM images show that more particles preferentially accumulate near the “peaks” than in the “valleys” of the rough NF membrane surface.