Beer clarification with polysulfone membrane and study on fouling mechanism

Abstract

The aims of the present work were to study the relationship between the fluxes, permeate quality, and fouling mechanism. A polysulfone membrane with 100 KDa and 0.12 m 2 of surface area was used. Permeate fluxes were measured for different pressures (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 bar) at the same temperature of 8 °C. The fluxes measured for each pressure ranged from 22, 24, 27 and 30 kg h -1m -2 at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 bar, respectively. Samples of the feed and permeate were analyzed for pH, color, turbidity, sugar, bitterness, and proteins. The fouling mechanisms observed were cake filtration, partial pore blocking, and complete pore blocking.