Innovative in situ investigations using synchrotron-based micro tomography and molecular dynamics simulation for fouling assessment in ceramic membranes for dairy and food industry

Proteins in dairy streams result in organic fouling and function loss for ceramic membrane's porous structure. Synchrotron-based X-ray microtomography (SR-mu CT) is a new method with a high signal to noise ratio and accordingly significant level of accuracy. The goal of this study was to perform an in situ assessment of ceramic membrane fouling in the dairy stream filtration process, using SR-mu CT. This study attempted to assess porosity variation and membrane fouling through different layers from the top, middle, and bottom layers of the ceramic microfiltration membrane before and after skimming milk filtration. Molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) was used for depth understanding of milk protein interactions with the ceramic membrane. Fouling was found to be more intense on the top of the ceramic membrane even though the top layer was slightly more porous, which indicates that top layers were more prone to fouling. A regression model was derived to correlate the porosity loss due to membrane fouling at different membrane thicknesses. The MDS results showed more affinity of the milk proteins to the ceramic membrane compared to water molecules. The MDS studies showed how the presence of the milk's protein macromolecules could change the hydrophilicity trend on the membrane's surface.