Modeling and mitigating fouling of microfiltration membranes for microalgae dewatering

Journal Article · 28 March 2023 · Separation and Purification Technology

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2023.123707 · OSTI ID:1994756

Deng, Erda ^[1]; Chen, Xiaoyi ^[2]; Rub, Darius ^[2]; Lin, Haiqing ^[2]

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1. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States); The State University of NY at Buffalo
2. State Univ. of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, NY (United States)

Dewatering is energy-intensive for microalgae production, and microfiltration (MF) membranes are attractive because of their high energy efficiency. However, the membranes suffer from fouling by organic matter in the algae solutions, and there needs fundamental understanding of membrane fouling with actual algae solutions. Herein we thoroughly evaluate the dewatering performance of commercial polyethersulfone (PES) MF membranes using an integrated experiment and modeling approach. The effect of algae concentration, testing time, feed flow rate, and chemical cleaning on the dewatering performance and fouling-layer morphology are investigated. The fouling behavior can be successfully described using the Hermia and gel layer models with a gel concentration of 48 g/L for algae solutions. Furthermore, the PES membrane surface was grafted with hydrophilic zwitterions, which mitigated the fouling. For example, when challenged with 10 g/L algae solution in dead-end cells, the pristine and modified membrane exhibit water permeance of 80 and 170 L m^{– 2} h^–1 bar^–1, respectively. Finally, three cycles of dewatering and NaOH cleaning were performed to demonstrate the promise of the MF membranes for practical dewatering application.

• Research Organization: Helios-NRG, LLC, East Amherst, NY (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• Grant/Contract Number: FE0031710
• OSTI ID: 1994756
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1970042
• Journal Information: Separation and Purification Technology, Journal Name: Separation and Purification Technology Vol. 315; ISSN 1383-5866
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English