Cleaning results characterized by flux, streaming potential and FTIR measurements

Abstract

The influence of chemical cleaning on the fluxes and charges of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with two different proteins was investigated. Using simultaneous streaming potential and flux measurements, virgin, precleaned, fouled and cleaned membranes were compared. The measured streaming potentials were recalculated to zeta potentials. The precleaning modified the membranes, but the extent depended on the cleaning agents used. Fourier transform infrared measurements gave some hint of what chemical groups in the membrane adsorbed the protein. The charge characterization can be used to determine cleaning efficiency if the zeta potential of the fouled membrane differs from the clean one by at least some millivolts at some characteristic pH.