Relationship of rotational correlation time from EPR spectroscopy and protein-membrane interaction

A study was carried out to determine if rotational correlation time of spin-labeled hen egg lysozyme (HEL) interacting with ultrafiltration membranes could be used to infer protein-membrane interaction. Polysulfone and cellulosic membranes, which have notably different adsorption properties, and membranes with varying pore sizes were used in this study. Based on this study, it was determined that the rotational correlation time does reflect variations in protein adsorption and pore plugging on membranes. The rotational correlation times for the highly adsorbent polysulfone (2.82 × 10⁻⁸ s) were significantly higher than those obtained from proteins on cellulosic membranes (0.62 × 10⁻⁸ s) and from those in solution (0.17 × 10⁻⁸ s). Rotational correlation time was also increased due to steric hindrance associated with pore plugging, although it was not as significant as the adsorption effect. This study indicates that the rotational time constant can be used to infer the type of protein-membrane interaction.     

Long-term study of an intermittent air sparged MBR for synthetic wastewater treatment

Membrane bioreactors (MBR) combine biological processes with membrane filtration. Advantages of MBR in municipal wastewater treatment include high effluent quality and reduced space requirements. Steady operation of membrane plants requires careful management of membrane fouling. Even though it might be impossible to prevent, fouling can be limited by techniques such as gas sparging. The injection of gas bubbles increases the shear stress and removes fouling material from the membrane surface. Most cited literature on air sparging refers to short-term experiments, often times in bench scale. The aim of this study was therefore long-term investigations in pilot plant scale of a 70 L reactor fed with glucose-based synthetic wastewater. The main focus was on enhancing permeate flux by air sparging. The results showed that using air sparging significantly increased the permeate flux was doubled even over several weeks. The findings were interpreted using the dimensionless fouling and shear stress number. The fouling resistance was found to decrease significantly with air injection ratios between 0.4 and 0.5. When air sparging was applied after a period without air sparging, the shear stress number doubled. This increase in shear led to a reduction of the fouling number by approximately 30%. During several weeks air sparging only a slow fouling number increase was. In contrast to that after air sparging was ceased, an exponential increase of the fouling number was observed.     

Application of relaxation periods during electrodialysis of a casein solution: Impact on anion-exchange membrane fouling

Electrodialysis (ED) is a membrane process used on a large scale. However, one of the common problems is fouling of ion-exchange membranes stacked in the cell. The use of pulsed power, consisting in applying a constant current density during a fixed time of application (T_on) followed by a pause duration (T_off), was demonstrated recently as an effective fouling mitigation method for electrodialysis. Up until now, no work has investigated the potential of electrodialysis using pulsed electric field on protein fouling. The aim of the present work was to study the influence of pulsed electric field (PEF) with a low frequency square shaped periodic signal (T_on = 10 s–T_off = 10 s, T_on = 10 s–T_off = 40 s) in comparison with dc current during electrodialysis of a casein solution at different current densities (10, 20 and 30 mA/cm²) on membrane fouling. It appeared from these results that PEF, under certain conditions of pulse, would avoid fouling on anion-exchange membranes. For 10 s–40 s pulsed electric field conditions, no fouling was observed with any density, while for 10 s–10 s PEF conditions, fouling appeared only at current density over 10 mA/cm². dc current, whatever the current density conditions, led to a fouling on the diluate side of the AEM. Furthermore, when fouling occurred, magnitude layer thickness and dry weight increased with the applied current density. The nature of the fouling was identified as 97% protein. The protein fouling would be due to the dissociation of water molecules and/or heat increase at the anion-exchange membrane interface. The relaxation time of the pulse would limit both phenomena on the membrane.     

MANUFACTURING OF LOW-PHOSPHORUS-DETERGENTS

Changes in composition of household washing detergents are reviewed, with emphasis on the importance of STPP

As by law or voluntary agreement the STPP content in detergents has dropped during the last years in some countries, it will be shown that the quality of the used phosphates is of great influence on the quality of the final product

In manufacturing detergents with low phosphate content it is important to use special STPP-types for every process

The process technology of the manufacture of phosphate-containing powdered detergents can be divided into processes in which the individual components are worked up Into agglomeration products (spray mixing plants) and processes In which the individual components are combined to form a slurry of several substances (spray drying plants).     

Study and optimization of the ultrasound-enhanced cleaning of an ultrafiltration ceramic membrane through a combined experimental–statistical approach

Membrane fouling is one of the main drawbacks of ultrafiltration technology during the treatment of dye-containing effluents. Therefore, the optimization of the membrane cleaning procedure is essential to improve the overall efficiency. In this work, a study of the factors affecting the ultrasound-assisted cleaning of an ultrafiltration ceramic membrane fouled by dye particles was carried out. The effect of transmembrane pressure (0.5, 1.5, 2.5 bar), cross-flow velocity (1, 2, 3 m s⁻¹), ultrasound power level (40%, 70%, 100%) and ultrasound frequency mode (37, 80 kHz and mixed wave) on the cleaning efficiency was evaluated. The lowest frequency showed better results, although the best cleaning performance was obtained using the mixed wave mode.A Box–Behnken Design was used to find the optimal conditions for the cleaning procedure through a response surface study. The optimal operating conditions leading to the maximum cleaning efficiency predicted (32.19%) were found to be 1.1 bar, 3 m s⁻¹ and 100% of power level.Finally, the optimized response was compared to the efficiency of a chemical cleaning with NaOH solution, with and without the use of ultrasound. By using NaOH, cleaning efficiency nearly triples, and it improves up to 25% by adding ultrasound.     

Effect of concentrate solution pH and mineral composition of a whey protein diluate solution on membrane fouling formation during conventional electrodialysis

The aim of this work was to study the effect of the concentrate solution pH and the composition in calcium, carbonate and protein of the diluate solution to be treated by conventional electrodialysis on the fouling of ion-exchange membranes. Conductivity, system resistance, pH of the diluate and cation migration were monitored to follow the evolution of the demineralization. Total cation migration was similar for all conditions although different forms of fouling were identified after three consecutive 100 min electrodialysis treatments. The nature of fouling and the membrane surface fouled depended on the concentrate pH value, the diluate mineral composition and the intrinsic composition of the whey isolate. Once conditions leading to membrane fouling were identified, an alternative configuration for our electrodialysis stack is proposed to prevent fouling onset.     

A new method for the evaluation of the reversible and irreversible fouling propensity of MBR mixed liquor

In this paper, a new fouling measurement method is presented as a pragmatic approach to determine a mixed liquor's fouling propensity. The MBR-VFM (VITO Fouling Measurement) uses a specific measurement protocol consisting of alternating filtration and physical cleaning steps, which enables the calculation of both the reversible and the irreversible fouling resistances. The MBR-VFM principle, set-up and measurement protocol are described as well as the evaluation of the fouling measurement method. Finally, the MBR-VFM was validated by comparing the fouling propensity measured on-line by the MBR-VFM in a lab-scale MBR with the fouling of the MBR membranes themselves. Our experiments indicated that the MBR-VFM can accurately measure fouling and that it can even be detected earlier than can be seen from the on-line filtration data of the lab-scale system itself. Furthermore, the differences measured in reversible and irreversible fouling seemed to be related to the observed impact of physical and chemical cleaning respectively. Therefore, the application of the MBR-VFM as an on-line sensor in an advanced control system, enabling the deployment of the measured fouling data for the control of membrane cleaning, seems feasible and will be tested in the near future.     

Characterization of CO2 plasma treated polymeric membranes and quantification of flux enhancement

Low-temperature CO₂ plasma is used for the treatment of poly-ethersulfone (PES), polyamide (PA) and poly-phenylene ethersulfone (PPE) ultrafiltration membranes. This has led to significant enhancement of the wetting characteristics of the membrane surface as is shown by contact angle measurements and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum analysis of the treated membranes. Changes in the physical characteristics of the surface, such as tensile property, surface roughness, etc. are quantified by tensile strength measurement and atomic force microscopy (AFM), respectively. An increase in the measured values of the di-electric constants further highlights the hydrophilic modification of the surface. A series of ultrafiltration experiments using a BSA solution of known concentration under different operating conditions is performed and the deposition thicknesses over the membrane surface during ultrafiltration are measured directly using image analyzing microscopy. The results clearly demonstrate that a plasma treated PES membrane is more hydrophilic with smoother surface and resists fouling leading to significant enhancement of permeate flux.     

A microfluidic membrane chip for in situ fouling characterization

A new method for non-invasive in situ monitoring of a microfiltration process is described. In microfiltration systems, local information on the deposition characteristics can be used to determine the cake behavior during a filtration run. Typically, non-invasive methods of fouling study are restricted to specialized membranes, or require highly complex systems. This study employs the use of synthetic embedded channel membranes, with channels separated by a porous structure (active membrane). The characteristics of the active membrane have been analyzed. Deposition on the membrane surface can be observed and monitored optically across the width of the feed channel. This can be used to observe the liquid hydrodynamics in the channel as well as the local cake properties in time. In dead end filtration, it has been observed that with 6 μm particles, the cake initially deposits towards the end of the membrane. However, as filtration continues, the deposition changes with more local deposition towards the channel entrance, leading to a more homogeneous cake layer.     

Fouling and cleaning of membranes in the ultrafiltration of the aqueous extract of soy flour

The aqueous extract of soy flour is an emulsion/suspension of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates. The foulant deposit formed on the surface of polysulfone membranes in the ultrafiltration of this complex extract was investigated from several aspects including thickness, physical structure, chemical analysis and rheological behaviour. SEM studies showed the thickness of the foulant deposit was approximately 0.2 μm for 50000 MWCO membrane and 0.4 μm for 100000 MWCO membrane. The structure of the foulant deposit consisted of lipids in a globular form of 0.2 to 1 μm diameter adhered to, and supported by, a protein-polysaccharide matrix. Rheological measurements were conducted on a sample of the foulant deposit collected from the 100000 MWCO membrane. This foulant deposit exhibited pseudoplastic and viscoelastic properties which totally resisted the surface shear stresses in the flat-plate module. Recovery of the water flux of the fouled membranes was achieved by a four-stage cleaning procedure comprising successive stages of washing with sodium hydroxide, protease detergent, sodium hypochlorite and flushing with water.