Fouling kinetics and associated dynamics of structural modifications

It is shown that the fouling behaviour of microfiltration membranes does not agree within all the time ranges of any of the commonly used membrane blocking models (i.e. complete, standard, intermediate or cake blocking). The resulting experimental kinetics of flux decline do not fit to only one of these models, but according to a successive or simultaneous coexistence of two or more of them. This is studied by analysing the structural modifications associated with the fouling kinetics. To achieve this goal, here we analyse the dynamical changes on the structure of four microporous membranes made by Sartorius (ST02 and ST045, neutral) and Spectrum (SP02 and SP045, positively charged) when fouled by permeating a protein aqueous solution (bovine serum albumin (BSA) at 1 g l(-1)) under 10 kPa in a dead-end device. The structure after different fouling times is obtained by using an extended bubble point method, and the equilibrium (BSA at both 1 g l(-1) and 10 g l(-1) concentrations) and dynamical adsorption, along with the equivalent number of layers, are investigated. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.