Membranfiltration von Prozessabwasser – in situ real-time Monitoring von organischem Membranfouling

Abstract

Process wastewater from separation and purification processes in the food and biotech industries as well as in biorefineries often contain components that can be recovered as valuable by-products in the context of closed-loop recycling with membrane processes. These effluents have a high proportion of organic components and are particularly complex, which is why they have a high fouling potential and organic membrane fouling occurs more frequently. Membrane fouling is a constant challenge for the application of membrane processes. It often results in a drastic reduction of the membrane filtration capacity and a change of the membrane retention. In addition, membrane life is often reduced by increased membrane cleaning, resulting in increased process costs.The development of effective strategies to minimize membrane fouling is therefore highly desirable. One possibility is process monitoring with conventional fouling monitoring methods, e.g. membrane flow and transmembrane pressure. These conventional methods often only register membrane fouling when it is already advanced and therefore no longer reversible.In contrast, in-situ real-time monitoring methods can provide early warning and additional information on the extent, quality or distribution of the fouling on the membrane surface. These methods are needed to achieve one of the major goals in the development of membrane processes - elimination/minimization of fouling to achieve stable membrane flow and retention. Despite these obvious advantages, the use of real-time monitoring methods is not widespread even in the fouling-prone industries - food and biotech industries and biorefineries. In this presentation different insitu real-time monitoring methods and their theoretical basics are presented. The respective advantages and disadvantages are discussed with a focus on methods that could be used in connection with membrane processes in fouling susceptible industries