Evaluation of the fouling resistance of methyl grafted ceramic membranes for inorganic foulants and co-effects of organic foulants

The application of NF membranes is still a big challenge because of both organic and inorganic fouling. In our previous studies, we have clearly shown that grafting of TiO2 NF membranes with organic groups, and especially grafting with methyl groups using Grignard reagents, leads to a strong antifouling effect for different organic materials. In this paper, we study the irreversible fouling of inorganic foulants such as iron and manganese hydroxides/oxides/salts (scaling) of native and grafted ceramic NF membranes. In addition, the influence of the presence of organics on inorganic fouling and co-effects of multiple organic materials (e.g. humic acids and alginate) on the fouling were also measured. As a final test, the potential of the surface grafted ceramic NF membranes is also evaluated in real surface water, where many different foulants are present simultaneously. In all cases, the strong antifouling effect of methyl Grignard grafting is confirmed. For the investigated membranes with varying amount of polar surface groups, humic acids decrease the fouling tendency of alginate, and calcium or iron ions decrease the fouling tendency of alginate and humic acids. All obtained results can be properly explained by considering the physico-chemical properties of the investigated membranes and model foulants.

Publication year:2018

Keywords:A1 Journal article

BOF-keylabel:yes

BOF-publication weight:3

CSS-citation score:2

Authors from:Higher Education

Accessibility:Open