Ai. Schafer et al., NANOFILTRATION OF NATURAL ORGANIC-MATTER - REMOVAL, FOULING AND THE INFLUENCE OF MULTIVALENT IONS, Desalination, 118(1-3), 1998, pp. 109-122
The presence of calcium and humic substances or natural organic matter
(NOM) in surface waters can cause severe fouling of nanofiltration (N
F) membranes. Conditions of fouling were studied using a stainless ste
el stirred cell of volume 185 mi and a membrane area of 21.2x10(-4) m(
2) at a transmembrane pressure of 5 bar. Deposition of organic matter
was determined by mass balance In feed and concentrate samples. Electr
on microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to
study the morphology and composition of the fouling layer. During perm
eate recycle experiments, which were used for fouling studies, it was
found that calcium concentration (as a representative of multivalent i
ons) and the type of organic play a major role in fouling. The calcium
forms complexes with some of the organics and deposits on the membran
e surface. Depending on the solution conditions the organic or calcite
(on which organics adsorb) precipitate. Factors, which influence the
concentration of organics and ions at the membrane surface such as sti
rring, flux and transmembrane pressure, influenced the deposition of o
rganic matter significantly, irreversible fouling occurred with all me
mbranes at high calcium concentrations, although the cellulose acetate
membrane showed an overall better performance, possibly due to its lo
w salt rejection and smooth surface. IHSS humic acid is the organic wh
ich deposits most easily and comparison of UV absorbance and DOC data
showed that the fraction which absorbs UV strongest, and is more hydro
phobic, deposits preferentially on the membranes. These substances als
o have the lowest solubility stressing the importance of concentration
polarisation effects.