Cleaning of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with BSA by means of saline solutions

In this work, four ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with molecular weight cut-offs (MWCOs) of 5, 15, 30 and 50 kDa, respectively, were fouled with 1% BSA aqueous solutions and cleaned with different saline solutions. The influence of MWCO, membrane material and operating conditions on the cleaning effi- ciency was investigated. Saline solutions were able to clean the 5, 15 and 30 kDa membranes, but not the 50 kDa membrane. NaCl, NaNO3, NH4Cl and KCl were the most effective salts. The cleaning tests demonstrated that the higher the temperature of the saline solution was, the higher the cleaning efficiency was also. In addition, an increase in the crossflow velocity resulted in an increase in the hydraulic cleaning efficiency (HCE). However, there was an optimum value of salt concentration to clean the membrane effectively. Response Surface Methodology was used to investigate the relationship between salt concentration and temperature in the cleaning process.The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project CTM2010-20186 and the Generalitat Valenciana through the program "Ayudas para la realizacion de proyectos I+D para grupos de investigacion emergentes GV/2013".Corbatón Báguena, MJ.; Alvarez Blanco, S.; Vincent Vela, MC. (2014). Cleaning of ultrafiltration membranes fouled with BSA by means of saline solutions. Separation and Purification Technology. 125(7):1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2014.01.035S110125

Salt cleaning of ultrafiltration membranes fouled by whey model solutions

In this work, three ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were fouled with whey model solutions that contained BSA (1% w/w) and CaCl2 (0.06% w/w). These membranes were cleaned with NaCl solutions. Temperature, crossflow velocity and concentration were varied. The membranes considered were a polyethersulfone (PES) membrane, a ceramic ZrO2–TiO2 membrane and a permanently hydrophilic polyethersulfone (PESH) membrane. Their molecular weight cut-offs (MWCOs) are 5, 15 and 30 kDa, respectively. The cleaning efficiency was related to the MWCO, membrane material and operating conditions. The results obtained demonstrated that NaCl solutions were able to clean the membranes tested. In addition, the higher the temperature and the crossflow velocity of the cleaning solution, the higher the cleaning efficiency was. However, there was an optimum value of NaCl concentration to clean the membranes effectively. When concentration was higher than the optimum, the cleaning efficiency decreased. The relationship between the cleaning efficiency and the operating conditions was obtained with statistical and optimization analysis.The authors of this work wish to gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the project CTM2010-20186 and the Generalitat Valenciana through the program "Ayudas para la realizacion de proyectos I+D para grupos de investigacion emergentes GV/2013".Corbatón Báguena, MJ.; Alvarez Blanco, S.; Vincent Vela, MC. (2014). Salt cleaning of ultrafiltration membranes fouled by whey model solutions. Separation and Purification Technology. 132:226-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2014.05.029S22623313

Transport of Explosive Residue Surrogates in Saturated Porous Media

Department of Defense operational ranges may become contaminated by particles of explosives residues (ER) as a result of low-order detonations of munitions. The goal of this study was to determine the extent to which particles of ER could migrate through columns of sandy sediment, representing model aquifer materials. Transport experiments were conducted in saturated columns (2 × 20 cm) packed with different grain sizes of clean sand or glass beads. Fine particles (approximately 2 to 50 μm) of 2,6-dinitrotoluene (DNT) were used as a surrogate for ER. DNT particles were applied to the top 1 cm of sand or beads in the columns, and the columns were subsequently leached with artificial groundwater solutions. DNT migration occurred as both dissolved and particulate phases. Concentration differences between unfiltered and filtered samples indicate that particulate DNT accounted for up to 41% of the mass recovered in effluent samples. Proportionally, more particulate than dissolved DNT was recovered in effluent solutions from columns with larger grain sizes, while total concentrations of DNT in effluent were inversely related to grain size. Of the total DNT mass applied to the uppermost layer of the column, <3% was recovered in the effluent with the bulk remaining in the top 2 cm of the column. Our results suggest there is some potential for subsurface migration of ER particles and that most of the particles will be retained over relatively short transport distances

Innovative Integrated Management System (IIMS) for Sustainable Food Industry

ABSTRACT Introduction Sustainable industry is industry that enhances the sustainable development. Sustainable development was defined by the World Commission on Environment and Development in 1987 as &quot;is about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.&quot; From the Thailand&apos;s National Research Project entitled &quot;Thailand&apos;s Sustainability Industry&quot; conducted during 2007 by Prasert Suttiprasit and others, it was figured that the major strategies for the sustainable industry are to cover the aspects of (1) environment, (2) society and (3) economics. In addition to these aspects, more suitable and effective law and regulations are essential. UK food industry sustainability strategy published in 2006 is an example of the dominant model for international food sustainable industry. Regarding this international food sustainable industry, the UK Government set out the strategy to cope the environmental, social and economic aspects along the food supply chain as the followings a. Nang Yan Business Journal -1.1 -2012 Paper #: 2 -09 P-138 To maintain the efficiency and effectiveness of the Food Industry either in UK or Thailand or in any countries; analysis, action and control measures as well as the corrective and preventive actions should be integrated planed, implemented, evaluated and improved continually through out the food supply chain. The Needs of the Novel System for Food Sustainable Industry Regarding the food that is an essential of human life, the concern related to safety and suitability for consumption is the major immersing critical issues for the social aspect at the international level since outbreaks of foodborne illness can damage trade and tourism, and lead to loss of earnings, unemployment and litigation. Food spoilage is wasteful, costly and can adversely affect trade and consumer confidence. To cope this issue, HACCP (Hazard analysis critical control points) in which was firstly established in the USA 4 decades ago as the preventive mechanism for safety control of foods has been worldwide adopted into the production and service of food industry. The common one for all nations in general format was adopted and revised by the Codex Alimentarius commission of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program in 1997 and amended thereafter in 1999 and lately in 2003. The quality management system standard, i.e. ISO 9000 has been implemented to control the food production process purposing to ensure the quality food products. Later on the majority of European, U.S. and other global retailers, and brand owners will only consider business with suppliers who have gained certification to the appropriate retailers&apos; standard such as SQF 2000, BRC, IFS and GFSI (Pangat, 2011). In order to meet the global needs and expectations described above, most food companies in the earlier days implemented each standard (ISO 9001, GMP/GHP and HACCP, and other standards such as BRC and ISO 22000) separately. Hence, the resource requirement particularly human resource was somewhat very high. Too much documents and records had to be formulated and controlled. To resolve this problem, there have to be an integrated approach that will be imperative for organizations to have flexibility in their systems&apos; design and management in the range of disciplines covering all standards in which they have to implement. Besides, the new integrated approaches have to be flexible and modernized enough for integrating the later implementation of standards and quality tools. The innovative integration approaches to the ISO 9001: 2000, Codex Hygiene (GMP/GHP and HACCP), BRC, and ISO 22000 for food industry by merging of both requirements and processes needed for each standard were initiated and successfully implemented in the companies for food sustainable industry