Pre-treatment of beverage production wastewater using a 5 nm TiO2 ceramic ultrafiltration membrane

Using membranes to pre-treat wastewater generated by beverage production facilities presents a challenge due to the fact that such wastewater is commonly high in chemical and organic content. The present work evaluated a 5 nm TiO2 ceramic ultrafiltration membrane with respect to beverage production wastewater. Results show that certain combinations of crossflow velocities (CFVs) and transmembrane pressures (TMPs) provided significant improvements in permeate flux and contaminant rejection rates. These improvements are attributed to the turbulent flow regime experienced by suspended particles during ultrafiltration. The majority of the particles present in the wastewater are swept away from the membrane surface resulting in reduced concentration polarization (cake layer) resistance and improved permeate flux. Similarly, the reduction in particle deposition on the membrane surface also reduces particle infiltration into the membrane pores resulting in better filtrate quality in terms of turbidity and COD.