Colloidal metastability and membrane fouling – Effects of crossflow velocity, flux, salinity and colloid concentration

• Systematic study of membrane operating parameters to control colloidal metastability.
• Occurrence of metastability is critically dependent on the colloids concentration.
• Threshold transition flux is identified for rapid phase transition to dense gel layer.
• First application of UTDR to monitor colloidal fouling under dead-end filtration.
• Confirmation of cake inhomogeneity with tightly packed gel region near the membrane.

Microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) involving colloidal suspensions are often involved in separations, concentration and clarification processes in the food and beverage as well as other industries. The increase in concentration near the membrane surface owing to concentration polarization can cause some part of a colloidal fouling layer to become metastable whereby it can undergo a higher order phase transition to a more dense gel. This was confirmed via deadend filtration studies wherein the fouling layer thickness obtained from the transmembrane pressure (TMP) was compared with that determined directly via ultrasonic time-domain reflectometry (UTDR). Whereas entering this metastable state is thermodynamically driven, the transition from a colloidal suspension to a more dense gel is a rate or kinetically driven process. This phase transition is manifest by a marked rate of increase in the TMP that occurs after an filtration time that is dependent on the flux. A ‘threshold transition flux’ is identified below which the time required for the phase transition can be considerably delayed. Since removing this dense gel layer via conventional cleaning protocols is more difficult, determining an operating strategy whereby this transition to a more dense gel can be delayed is clearly of interest for the optimal operation of MF and UF processes. To this end the effects of crossflow velocity, flux, salinity and colloidal silica concentration on this metastability phenomenon are studied for a polyethersulfone UF membrane under crossflow and constant flux conditions. A lower crossflow velocity and higher flux, increased salinity and higher colloidal silica concentration decrease the time required for the transition to a dense gel.