Design and evaluation of microbubble-based cleaning process of membranes fouled by oily wastewater
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2019
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Zamorano: Escuela Agrícola Panamericana, 2019.
Resumen
As an alternative for the conventional clean-in-place (CIP) process for microfiltration membranes, a novel cleaning technology based on microbubbles has been recently available. Microbubbles are known for their ability to generate pressure waves through shrinking and subsequent self-collapsing phenomenon which causes foulant removal. In addition, they have hydrophobic surfaces which have the potential to attract organic substances like oil. In the present study, the effectiveness of microbubbles in palm oil foulant removal from the membranes in the first two stages of the CIP cleaning process was investigated and compared with the conventional process, which uses water and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) as cleaning agents. Vinylidene Polyfluoride (PVDF) microfiltration membranes of 0.1 μm pore size were fouled with an oil-in-water emulsion (O/W) made of palm oil. The emulsion was recirculated by a laboratory scale filtration system at 7 L/min and 155 kPa of transmembrane pressure (TMP). A 75% flux recovery was observed after the application of microbubbles in the first two steps of the CIP process compared to the 22% flux recovery obtained with the control without microbubbles. The use of microbubbles for membrane cleaning purposes proved to restore the membrane flux to a better performance level. The results of this study suggest that the use of microbubbles is more efficient in foulant detachment compared to the conventional cleaning process.
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Clean-in-place, Cross-flow filtration,, Microfiltration, Filtración por flujo cruzado, Limpieza In situ, Microfiltración