EVIDENCE FOR MEMBRANE FOULING BY SPECIFIC TOC CONSTITUENTS

Fouling of membranes by organic substances precludes that these organi cs are present in the feed water, most likely in a dissolved state. An alysis of feed waters for such constituents can help to find the cause s, and later the solutions, for membrane fouling. Two examples are pre sented in which this strategy was successful, in the first example pol ysaccharides and hydrophobic organic compounds were responsible for me mbrane fouling, in the second example the culprit was an anionic polym eric flocculant aid.