REDUCTION OF MEMBRANE FOULING IN THE PRESENCE OF HIGH POLARIZATION RESISTANCE

The effect of transmembrane pressure pulsing on membrane fouling and concentration-polarization resistance in crossflow ultrafiltration have been recently presented. It has been shown that transmembrane pressure pulsing could reduce membrane fouling and increase solute flux by as much as two orders of magnitude in crossflow ultrafiltration [Rodgers and Sparks, AIChE J., 37 (1991) 1517]. The effect of pulsing on the concentration-polarization resistance in this study was determined to be small and it was concluded that the concentration-polarization boundary layer was slightly altered by translation of body forces through the membrane by minute membrane motion [Rodgers and Sparks, J. Membrane Sci., 68 (1992) 149]. The results imply that transmembrane pressure pulsing may alter membrane fouling even under very high concentration-polarization resistance. This study analyzed the effect of transmembrane pressure pulsing on binary and single solute protein ultrafiltration in a batch cell apparatus. A 1% BSA/0.1% IgG solution, and single solute solutions of 1% BSA and 0.1% IgG, all prepared in 0.15 M NaCl at pH 7.4, were used in this study. The pulse frequency was set at 0.2 Hz and the operating pressure and pulse amplitude were both set at 70 kPa. It was concluded that pulsing under conditions of high polarization resistance was effective in reducing membrane fouling.