| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 222819 | Journal of Food Engineering | 2016 | 9 Pages |
•A ceramic membrane is used to clarify the remelt syrup prior to resin treatment.•We evaluate flux obtained for the membrane under different operating conditions.•A model is established to investigate the membrane fouling mechanism.•We investigate the influence of operating conditions on each membrane resistance.•We investigate the membrane fouling dynamics.
The performance of a ceramic microfiltration membrane with 0.5 μm pore size in clarifying carbonated remelt syrup that was filtered by plate-and-frame filter press was investigated under different operating conditions. In total reflux experiments, using 0.5 μm ceramic membranes for treating carbonated, filtered remelt syrup at 80 °C produced steady-state fluxes of 328.4 and 293.1 L/(m2 h) at a cross-flow velocity of 5 m/s, and transmembrane pressures (TMPs) of 3.0 and 2.5 bar, respectively. Decreasing the temperature to 75 °C yielded a corresponding flux of 271.8 L/(m2 h) at a TMP of 3.0 bar. In concentration experiments, when treating 750 L of syrup, 96.7, 76.9 and 72.0 L/(m2 h) of average fluxes were obtained under three operating conditions mentioned above. All conditions produced high-quality filtered syrup. Research on membrane resistances indicated that TMP significantly affected irreversible cake resistance. The increase in cross-flow velocity decreased cake resistance but insignificantly affected pore blocking resistance. All component resistances were decreased with increasing temperature. Membrane fouling dynamics could be represented through a pseudo-first-order rate equation. Fluxes of fouled membranes were recovered by successive cleaning with de-ionized water, a 1% NaOH + 0.5% NaOCl mixed solution, and a 0.5% HNO3 solution.
