Development and evaluation of an active precoated microfiltration system

Abstract

Whilst microfiltration (MF) has numerous uses and advantages over conventional separation processes it does have certain limitations. MF membrane process can effectively remove turbidity but cannot sufficiently remove low molecular organics. For a sufficient removal of such particles adaptations and modifications to the membrane has to be made or additional removal processes (e.g. nanofiltration or reverse osmosis) has to be added. This project makes an attempt at addressing the former issue. In MF, a membrane on a support performs the filtration. There are various types of materials used as supports e.g. ceramics, porous steel tubes, polymers etc. These materials are usually rigid or semi-rigid and thus offer the advantage of maintaining their shape thus enabling operation at high pressures. This project will concentrate exclusively on woven fibre microfiltration (WFMF). This is a tubular cloth-like filter, which becomes rigid when feed flows into it.