Influence of particle size and surface charge on critical flux of crossflow microfiltration

The effect of particle size and ionic strength of the feed suspension on critical flux was studied. The critical flux was defined in two different ways (strong and mild definition). The fouling, the increase of resistance (which is the basis of the mild definition of the critical flux) was relatively sensitive to the deposition of particles of 0.4 mu m on the membrane of 0.2 mu m mean pore. On the other hand, the deposition of large particles of 3.2 mu m to a certain value on the membrane surface of 0.2 mu m mean pore did not lead to the increase in resistance. In case of 11.9 mu m particles, the transmembrane pressure did not increase even with significant amount of deposition of particles. The ionic strength of suspension had significant effect on the critical flux. For an ionic strength less than 1x10 (-1.5) M, there was a decrease in the critical flux. This could be due to the dense layer of deposit which is the result of less diffuse layer thickness of particles. Above this ionic strength, a significant increase in critical flux was noticed which may be due to the aggregation of particles. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.