A Review on Ion-Exchange Membrane Fouling during the Electrodialysis Process in the Food Industry, Part 1: Types, Effects, Characterization Methods, Fouling Mechanisms and Interactions

Abstract

Electrodialysis (ED) was first established for water desalination and is still highly recommended in this field for its high water recovery, long lifetime and acceptable electricity consumption. Today, thanks to technological progress in ED processes and the emergence of new ion-exchange membranes (IEMs), ED has been extended to many other applications in the food industry. This expansion of uses has also generated several problems such as IEMs’ lifetime limitation due to different ageing phenomena (because of organic and/or mineral compounds). The current commercial IEMs show excellent performance in ED processes; however, organic foulants such as proteins, surfactants, polyphenols or other natural organic matters can adhere on their surface (especially when using anion-exchange membranes: AEMs) forming a colloid layer or can infiltrate the membrane matrix, which leads to the increase in electrical resistance, resulting in higher energy consumption, lower water recovery, loss of membrane permselectivity and current efficiency as well as lifetime limitation. If these aspects are not sufficiently controlled and mastered, the use and the efficiency of ED processes will be limited since, it will no longer be competitive or profitable compared to other separation methods. In this work we reviewed a significant amount of recent scientific publications, research and reviews studying the phenomena of IEM fouling during the ED process in food industry with a special focus on the last decade. We first classified the different types of fouling according to the most commonly used classifications. Then, the fouling effects, the characterization methods and techniques as well as the different fouling mechanisms and interactions as well as their influence on IEM matrix and fixed groups were presented, analyzed, discussed and illustrated.

Recovery of Nutrients from Residual Streams Using Ion-Exchange Membranes: Current State, Bottlenecks, Fundamentals and Innovations

“…Indeed, the nutrient recovery is carried out from liquids that contain a large number of microorganisms or organic and inorganic substances that are a nutritional medium. These substances are adsorbed by IEMs due to electrostatic, ion-dipole, dipole-dipole and other interactions [ 213 , 214 , 215 ]. In addition, concentration polarization and local changes in pH can lead to scaling of inorganic substances.…”

“…A detailed analysis of various fouling, scaling, biofouling mechanisms and the impact of these phenomena on the characteristics of IEM bulk and surface, as well as on their transport characteristics (conductivity, diffusion permeability, permselectivity) and on the phenomena accompanying concentration polarization (WS, electroconvection (EC), etc.) is made in recent reviews [ 64 , 80 , 213 , 214 , 217 ] and summarized in Figure 14 . Therefore, we will not analyze these phenomena in detail.…”

“…As already mentioned in Section 4.2 , the causes of membrane fouling are considered in sufficient detail in many original papers and reviews, for example, in [ 64 , 80 , 213 , 214 ]. Therefore, we will briefly dwell only on the more intense degradation of IEMs during their operation in solutions containing phosphoric acid and/or ammonium anions.…”

Mathematical Modeling of the Effect of Pulsed Electric Field Mode and Solution Flow Rate on Protein Fouling during Bipolar Membrane Electroacidificaiton of Caseinate Solution

“…The expansion of uses of EDBM has increased the interest in this technique, but has also generated several problems such as fouling phenomena of membranes [17,18]. Fouling is a deposition of organic and inorganic substances on the surface and inside the pores of membranes, which leads to the degradation of properties and limitation of membrane lifetime [19].…”

In-Depth on the Fouling and Antifouling of Ion-Exchange Membranes

“…Dammak et al [1] and Pismenskaya et al [2] reviewed a significant number (about 380) of recent and relevant high-quality scientific papers, research articles and reviews studying the phenomena of IEM fouling during the ED process in the food industry with a special focus on the last decade. They first classified the different types of fouling according to the most commonly used classifications.…”