Low Fouling Membranes

Membrane fouling – a common hindrance to the advancement of water treatment and separation membrane technologies, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, and osmosis processes – diminishes process productivity, raises operating costs, and shortens membrane life span. Fouling is the deposition of retained particles, colloids, macromolecules, salts, etc., at the membrane surface or inside the pore, and at the pore walls. Fouling reduces the membrane flux either temporarily or permanently. The decrease of permeate flux or irreversible membrane fouling is recognized as the main problem in the application of membrane filtration technologies. Several types of membrane fouling have been introduced including inorganic fouling or scaling, colloidal fouling, organic fouling, and biofouling. A schematic representation is given in Fig. 1. Among them, the formation of biofilms on the membrane surfaces or membrane biofouling has been regarded as the most serious problem. The...