Membrane fouling characterization by infrared thermography

An infrared thermography (IRT) technique for characterization of fouling on flat sheet membrane surface has been developed. In this work, an IR camera was used to measure surface temperature and emissivity of foulant on a membrane surface. Different fouling experiments were performed using different feed concentrations of aluminum oxide nanoparticle mixed with deionized water so as to investigate the effect of feed concentration on the degree of fouling and on the emissivity values measured on the membrane surfaces. Our findings revealed that the emissivity of the fouled membrane surface is contingent on the surface roughness as well as the material composition of the foulant. The technique was utilized to distinguish between foulants made of metallic materials from those that are non-metallic. This approach, which is simple to use and nondestructive represents an important addition to the toolset of fouling analysis techniques and would benefit a wide range of applications from observation of foulant structure to qualitative assessment of composition of foulant material.