Fouling mechanisms of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with whey model solutions

• Three ultrafiltration membranes were fouled with whey model solutions.
• Several mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data.
• Model predictions were very accurate for all the membranes and feed solutions tested.
• Membrane characteristics were related to the fouling mechanisms and model parameters.

In this work, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with different molecular weight cut-offs (MWCOs) and made of different materials were fouled with several whey model solutions that consisted of bovine serum albumin (BSA) (1% w/w), BSA (1% w/w) and CaCl2 (0.06% w/w in calcium) and whey protein concentrate (WPC) with a total protein content of 45% w/w at three different concentrations (22.2, 33.3 and 44.4 g·L− 1). The influence of MWCO and membrane material on the fouling mechanism dominating the UF process was investigated. Experiments were performed using two flat-sheet organic membranes and a ceramic monotubular membrane whose MWCOs were 5, 30 and 15 kDa, respectively. Hermia's models adapted to crossflow UF, a combined model based on complete blocking and cake formation equations and a resistance-in-series model were fitted to permeate flux decline curves. The results demonstrated that permeate flux decline was accurately predicted by all the models studied. However, the models that fitted the best to permeate flux decline experimental data were the combined model and the resistance-in-series model. Therefore, complete blocking and cake formation were the predominant mechanisms for all the membranes and feed solutions tested.