Fouling

The feasibility of ultra and microfiltration depends strongly on the achieved net flux. Direct treatment of surface water frequently results in low net fluxes and high cleaning frequencies. This is largely determined by the quality of the feed water and the mechanisms that determine the fouling and

Membrane fouling is a frequent problem in most seawater reverse osmosis units, particularly when raw water is drawn from an open sea intake. Membranes tend to foul slowly, which makes it necessary to perform periodic cleanings with physical and chemical products, which in turn produce a decrease in

Flat sheet samples of SWRO membranes of the SWC2 type (Hydranautics) were surface modified with hydrophilic polymers formed by redox initiated grafting with vinyl monomers. These were mounted on specially designed stubs along with unmodified membranes and tested at the Mekorot seawater RO pilot plan

This paper is related to potential problems associated with the desalination performance of reverse osmosis (RO) units in conditions when the feed may be contaminated with crude oil and fuel oil spillages. The work has involved the examination of the behaviour of polyamide seawater membranes and bra

Laboratory tests with simulated waters in the range of those in a prospective desalination plant were carried out to determine the water quality effects on silica precipitation both in batch and dynamic tests using RO membranes. In this study the effect of cations on silica polymerization was invest

We assessed the potentiality of reducing concentration polarization and enhancing ultrafiltration of macromolecules via gas sparging (gas bubbles supplied to the UF system with the feed solution). Consideration was given to the problem of how the quantity of the gas sparged and the duration of the p

• T he investigations substantiated the thesis that t he hydrophilicity of the membranes noticea bly affects the efficiency of treating water p olluted with natural organic matter by u ltrafiltration. • S trongly hydrophilic membranes (made of r egenerated cellulose) displayed a high p ermeability a

Integrated membrane systems (IMS) were pilot tested for treatment of a high TOC river water. Pretreatment methods included microfiltration, in-line coagulation–microfiltration, and coagulation–sedimentation–filtration. Fouling was minimized at lower flux, lower recovery and with the addition of a bi

A simple grafting procedure was developed for surface modification of commercial polyamide reverse osmosis membranes. The modifications were monitored by spectral analysis. This technique was also used for study of membrane hydration. It was established that water interaction with surface functional