An investigation of the membrane fouling behaviors in constant flux mode

Studying the effect of different operation conditions (bovine serum albumin (BSA) concentration, flux and stirring speed) on the membrane fouling behaviors (the variation of transmembrane pressure (TMP), cake resistance (R_c), pore blocking resistance (R_i) and available membrane area ratio (A/A₀)) is of paramount importance in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process. The constant flux filtration experiment was conducted to investigate the fouling behaviors of BSA solution, which provides a guidance for controlling the membrane fouling. The intermediate blocking-cake combined model was established and it was described mathematically with good results. The results showed that the influence sequence of operating conditions on the TMP was obtained as flux > concentration > stirring speed. Meanwhile, R_c decreased with the increase of stirring speed, and the A/A₀ decreased with the increase of BSA concentration and the flux.