Ultrafiltration of O/W emulsion by dynamic polyester support: a comparison study between self-forming and pre-coated

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the preparation and application of AC/TiO2 dynamic membranes (DM) in oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions separation. Experimental results show that after three filtration cycles, pre-coating process decreased the fouling of support membrane and increased flux recovery rate (8.9%) while using the self-forming DM was aggravated fouling of the support membrane by decreasing of flux recovery rate (6.5%). By substitution of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with deionized water in the backwashing step, the cleaning efficiency was enhanced for all DMs. Cleaning efficiency when SDS was used for backwashing was increased for pre-coated DM with a flux recovery rate of 60.3%. The use of the pre-coated DM along with the use of SDS as a cleaning agent and ultraviolet light power can be considered as a promising protocol to reduce the fouling of support membrane and increase membrane cleaning efficiency with a flux recovery rate of 62.3%.