Fouling control on microfiltration/ultrafiltration membranes: effects of morphology, hydrophilicity, and charge

Abstract

Membrane-based separation processes are very susceptible to flux decline because of concentration polarization and fouling problems. Despite the immense applications of low-pressure driven microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes in various fields, fouling is considered a major negative aspect, and it renders the membrane with a reduced lifetime. The important membrane properties, hydrophilicity, charge, and morphology mainly gained by the membrane during its formation process are considered to be deciding factors in fouling. In this review, we spotlight the effects of the hydrophilicity, charge, and morphology on MF and UF fouling, the principles of the most frequently used instrumentation techniques in predicting these factors, and measures that can be taken for fouling control. The review also focuses on the UF and MF membrane modification techniques used to attain high antifouling characteristics