Possibilities for the use of membrane processes for the pre-treatment of wastewater from the production of dried potato purée Original Research Article

Our research focused on the membrane separation of wastewater resulting from the production of dried potato purée. Our aim was to investigate possibilities for recycling obtained retentate back to the actual production process, and, consequently, for reducing wastewater pollution. This paper describes trials of MF and RO membrane filtration of starch wastewater. The treated water contained starch, in either granulated or gelatinized form, and solids (fine pieces of potato skins). The trials were conducted in either one or two stages. We used a pilot plant equipped with a ceramic membrane with a filtration area of 0.35 m2 and pore sizes of 500 and 100 nm. We also tested an organic RO membrane (7410) in the laboratory.