Fouling characteristics of humic substances on tight polysulfone-based ultrafiltration membrane
Danu Ariono,Putu T.P. Aryanti,Anita K. Wardani,I.G. Wenten
Abstract
Fouling characteristics of humic substances on tight ultrafiltration (UF) membrane have been investigated. The tight UF membrane was prepared by blending polysulfone (PSf) in N.N-dimethylacetamide (DMAc) with 25%wt of Polyethylene glycol (PEG400) and 4%wt of acetone. Fouling characteristic of the modified PSf membrane was observed during peat water filtration in different trans-membrane pressure (TMP). It was found that the acetone modified membrane provided 13% increase in TMP during five hours of peat water filtration, where a stable flux was reached within 150 minutes. Meanwhile, the increase of TMP from 10 psig to 30 psig resulted in a fouling resistance enhancement of 60%. Furthermore, based on the fouling analysis, fouling mechanism at the first phase of filtration was attributed to intermediate blocking while the second phase was cake formation.
