Blocking of capillaries as fouling mechanism for dead-end ultrafiltration

In this paper plugging of capillaries in the potting is investigated. A lot of research has been done on fouling of the membrane surface (pore blocking, cake filtration) but research on other types of membrane fouling like plugging of capillaries is not so common. Experiments were performed with a lab-scale test installation under constant flux conditions with synthetic feed water containing ferric hydroxide flocks as a fouling component. The experiments showed that during operation capillaries became blocked by fouling plugs. The presence of blockages, especially in the potting at the concentrate side of the capillaries, could not be detected by measuring the clean water resistance. However such blockages did result in an increased forward flush pressure. A combination of the clean water resistance and the forward flush pressure is suitable for determining the fouling of a membrane and the effectiveness of a cleaning procedure. The part of the capillaries in the potting is not backwashed and therefore the hydraulic as well as the chemical cleaning is not efficient at this place.