Modeling of suspension fouling in nanofiltration

Prediction of membrane process performance using experimental and mathematical models facilitates optimization of membrane processes and their operating conditions. On the other hand investigation of nanofiltration process performance over time and estimation of the time for recovery are very essential in the membrane industry. In this work a mathematical model considering membrane resistance changes and also dissolution of deposited particles in nanofiltration feed, for a cross flow nanofiltration system was developed. The validation of this model with experimental data demonstrated a good agreement. At a constant concentration of 0.2 g/L error of the present models varied from 3% (at the pressure of 1 bar) up to about 3.8% (at the pressure of 2.9 bar) while at a constant pressure of 2 bar error varied from 2.45% (at the concentration of 0.1 g/L) up to about 4.2% (at the concentration of 0.4 g/L). A comparison between this model and three other previous models proved a better performance for the present model with an average error of 3.25%.