A pilot study was carried out to evaluate the incorporation of air sparging for enhancing ultrafiltration membrane filterability in treating soybean whey. The results showed that the decline of membrane permeate flux was slowed down by air sparging. The filtration could continue for 1200 minutes with acceptable permeate flux under the optimal parameters as temperature of 45°C, pH of 7.0, transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 0.05MPa and air sparging intensity of 5.0m3/h. The experiment also revealed that air sparging was advantageous to hydrodynamic flushing and chemical cleaning to reclaim membrane permeate flux. Moreover, the effect of air sparging on the retaining ratios of protein and sugar was investigated.
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