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Effect of cleaning protocol on membrane permeability recovery: A sensitivity analysis
Author(s) -
Porcelli Nicandro,
Judd Simon
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal ‐ american water works association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.466
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1551-8833
pISSN - 0003-150X
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8833.2010.tb11365.x
Subject(s) - reagent , fouling , membrane , microfiltration , ultrafiltration (renal) , protocol (science) , permeability (electromagnetism) , membrane permeability , bespoke , process engineering , environmental science , chromatography , pulp and paper industry , chemistry , engineering , medicine , biochemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , political science , law
Results are presented for a four‐year study of chemical cleaning of ultrafiltration/microfiltration membranes for inland potable water treatment are presented. The study made use of a bespoke test cell in which sample membrane fibers extracted from modules in full‐scale operating membrane plants were examined. The test entailed cleaning—with the reagents used at each of the nine sites—under controlled conditions of reagent concentration ( C ), soak period ( P ), and temperature ( T ). Data were analyzed using a standard response surface model to identify optimum cleaning protocol parameter values. Results showed the effect and order of importance of C, P , and T to vary both between sites and temporally, making identification of the most appropriate prescriptive cleaning protocols extremely challenging. Optimization of plant operation and maintenance requires methods for recording and tracking changes in cleaning efficacy, such as the one used in this study, as an adjunct to assessing the tendency for initial fouling through pilot‐testing.