The mechanisms of flux reduction due to cake-enhanced osmotic pressure (CEOP) in nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) in multispecies influent solutions are not fully understood.  Previous studies have reported CEOP effects in filtration of single compound solutions, primarily colloidal silica, and through biofilms.  In this work the relative effect of cake layer resistance and CEOP on performance in multicomponent mixtures of traditional model water-soluble organic compounds are investigated.  Soluble macromolecules investigated are bovine serum album (BSA), sodium alginate, and humic acid as the model polysaccharide, protein, and natural organic matter, respectively.  Sodium chloride is used as a molecular probe to quantify the concentration polarization at the membrane surface and CEOP due to the presence of the dynamic layer. Flux decline through NF membranes with two- and three-compound solutions under varying ionic strengths are compared to gain a better understanding of the relative contribution to pressure drop resulting from hydraulic cake resistance and CEOP.

Nanofiltration membrane performance reduction due to cake-enhanced osmotic pressure in multicomponent soluble macromolecular synthetic solutions

246th National Meeting (2013)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.