Effect of the Ultrasound Generated by Flat Plate Transducer Cleaning on Polluted Polyvinylidenefluoride Hollow Fiber Ultrafiltration Membrane

Polyvinylidenefluoride (PVDF) hollow fiber ultrafiltration membrane is frequently employed in water treatment. However, the fouling of ultrafiltration membranes affects the economic effectiveness of such process significantly. The ultrasound generated by flat plate transducer (UFPT) was used to clean the polluted PVDF ultrafiltration membrane with 2 g·L−1 of citric acid aqueous solution in our study. The effects of UFPT intensity on the membrane surface were studied. The new membrane was easy to be polluted by the saturated CaCl2 solution. A synergistic effect of UFPT and 2 g·L−1 citric acid aqueous solution could remove the foul of the membrane, and its flux could be recovered about 81%. The flux recovery of old membrane polluted was increased to 73.2% after 7 h soaking in citric acid aqueous solution, but its flux recovery without soaking was only increased to 56.2%.