Analysis of fouling characteristics of diatomite ceramic membrane using filtration models

Abstract

Ceramic membrane has made rapid progress in industrial/municipal wastewater treatment and drinking water treatment owing to its advantageous properties over conventional polymeric membrane. The ceramic membrane processes are a rapidly emerging technology for water treatment, yet virtually no information on the performance and fouling mechanisms diatomite ceramic membrane. In this study, filtration experiments were carried out using a mixture of humic acid and kaolin which simulated surface water under constant pressure to reveal fouling characteristics of the filtration of the diatomite ceramic membrane. The results showed that the removal rate of VU254 was 52%~70%, and turbidity was 90%~95% when treat mixed water of 5-10mg/L kaolin and humic acid. And membrane surface retention and membrane pore adsorption were the mainly removal routes. And the flux slowly decreases, rapidly decreases, gradually decreases and stabilizes were three processes of diatomite ceramic membrane fouling. And the first and third stages of membrane fouling mainly caused by complete blocking, and the second stage was mainly controlled by standard blocking. The study found that humic acid would cause both the pore blocking and the fouling of the membrane surface when turbidity was present, especially the membrane surface pollution, it was the major factor of diatomite ceramic membrane fouling.