Effect of fouling reduction by ozone backwashing in a microfiltration system with advanced new membrane material

The effect of ozone back washing for membrane fouling reduction was experimentally investigated in a submerged metal membrane microfiltration system. A cleaning by intermittent ozone gas backwashing was effective in recovering the permeation flux. Intermittent ozone backwashing was highly effective than the air or permeates backwashing for flux recovery. Regarding the operational parameters, the increase of ozone gas flow rate was more effective than the increase of injection time under the conditions of same ozone dose. However, the backwashing cycle was longer, the effect of flux recovery by ozone backwashing decreased. Therefore, it is favorable to operate membrane cleaning before the foulant was consolidated on membrane surface.