Impact of effluent organic matter on low-pressure membrane fouling in tertiary treatment

A comparative study of biological activated carbon, granular activated carbon and coagulation feed pre-treatment for improving microfiltration performance in wastewater reclamation

“…Low MW organics, which usually block the membrane pores partially or completely, contribute to irreversible fouling resistance and also lead to flux decline. Similar results were observed by Ayache et al [20] who suggested that the adsorption of the low MW neutral compounds was closely related to hydraulically irreversible fouling. Both reversible and irreversible filtration resistance increased with successive filtration cycles.…”

Influence of organic matter type in wastewater on soluble microbial products production and on further ultrafiltration

“…In these processes the main mechanisms of UF membrane fouling are cake layer formation on the membrane surface and pore blocking due to colloids and high‐molecular‐weight solutes . As reported by many researchers, the main foulants of the membranes are soluble microbial products (SMP) . The SMP are the organic compounds released into solution from biomass growth, substrate metabolism and biomass decay, whose main components are carbohydrates and proteins …”

Treatment of secondary effluent with biological activated carbon to reduce fouling of microfiltration membranes caused by algal organic matter from Microcystis aeruginosa

“…Studies have shown that proteins in secondary effluent were responsible for the irreversible fouling of UF and MF membranes [10,11]. A different result was found by Ayache et al [12] who reported that low MW neutral compounds in secondary effluent caused hydraulically irreversible fouling of a UF membrane. To date there have been only a few studies on the organics in secondary effluent responsible for the hydraulically irreversible fouling of LPMs, although the organics in drinking water responsible for fouling have been widely investigated.…”