Structure and flow calculation of cake layer on microfiltration membranes

作     者：Yadong Yu Zhen Yang Yuanyuan Duan 

作者机构：Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of MOEBeijing Key Laboratory for CO2 Utilization and Reduction TechnologyTsinghua UniversityBeijing 100084China 

出 版 物：《Journal of Environmental Sciences》 (环境科学学报（英文版）)

年 卷 期：2017年第29卷第6期

页      面：95-101页

核心收录：

学科分类：083002[工学-环境工程] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 08[工学] 

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51176090 and 51321002) 

主　　题：Membrane fouling CLSM Cake layer CFD Permeability 

摘      要：Submerged membrane bioreactors （SMBR） are widely used in wastewater treatment. The permeability of a membrane declines rapidly because of the formation of a cake layer on the membrane surface. In this paper, a multiple staining protocol was conducted to probe the four major foulants in the cake layer formed on a filtration membrane. Fluorescent images of the foulants were obtained using a confocal laser scanning microscope （CLSM）. The three dimensional structure of the cake layer was reconstructed, and the internal flow was calculated using computational fluid dynamics （CFD）. Simulation results agreed well with the experimental data on the permeability of the cake layer during filtration and showed better accuracy than the calculation by Kozeny-Carman method. B-D-Glucopyranose polysaccharides and proteins are the two main foulants with relatively large volume fractions, while a-D-glucopyranose polysaccharides and nucleic acids have relatively large specific surface areas. The fast growth of B-D-glucopyranose polysaccharides in the volume fraction is mainly responsible for the increase in cake volume fraction and the decrease in permeability. The specific area, or the aggregation/dispersion of foulants, is less important to its permeability compared to its volume fraction.