APPLICATION OF SMALL-ANGLE NEUTRON-SCATTERING TO THE IN-SITU STUDY OFPROTEIN FOULING ON CERAMIC MEMBRANES

The fouling of ceramic ultrafiltration membranes by protein under dyna mic filtration conditions has been investigated by small angle neutron scattering(SANS). Bovine serum albumin (BSA) solution was pumped thro ugh a thin commercial alumina membrane in a quartz cell specially desi gned to allow simultaneous SANS. SANS from clean membranes immersed in D2O obeyed Pored's law and showed that the pores in these ultrafiltra tion membranes more closely resemble fractal or random pore structures than well-oriented monodisperse arrays of cylindrical pores. During p rotein filtration, the SANS patterns showed a buildup with time of pro tein on all parts of this internal surface; The effects of time and pH indicate that the performance with respect to filtration is closely l inked to the buildup of the adsorbed layer of protein.