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<p> UV radiation disinfection technology is an advantageous method of wastewater disinfection as it avoids the formation of chemical by-products typically found from chlorination. One challenge with this technology is avoiding fouling on the quartz sleeves in which the UV lamps are housed. In this study, using a model fouling system, the roles in fouling of light, and the constitution of the fouling media, are examined. The systematic determination of fouling by various mixtures of human serum albumin, humic acid, Ca^2+, and Fe^3+ was carried out on quartz slides in the presence and absence of UV (254nm) light. Fouling was assessed by the reduction in transmission of UV light through the quartz slides over time. It was determined that the most important factors were the concentration of..iron and protein, which apparently act synergistically to foul the surface. Other contributing factors to the magnitude of fouling include the flow rate and the age of the fouling solution. Most important was the presence of UV light. In all solutions examined, fouling was observed to a lower degree when the system was exposed to light. On the other hand, XPS analysis has demonstrated differences in the nature of the fouling layer on the surface exposed to UV light compared to that in the dark. </p> <p> It is generally accepted that low energy surfaces are less easily fouled than polar surfaces. Therefore, hydrophobic modification of the quartz by a series of different silane coupling agents was undertaken. Irrespective of the nature of the coating (alkylamine, alkyl, aryl, fluorocarbon, silicone), the rate and magnitude of fouling on the surface were comparable to the unmodified quartz. However, the more hydrophobic surfaces were easier to clean. </p> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Biofouling represents the main problem in membrane filtration systems. Biofouling arises when the biomass growth negatively impacts the membrane performance parameters (i.e. flux decrease and feed channel pressure drop). Most of the available techniques for characterization of biofouling involve membrane autopsies, providing information ex-situ destructively at the end of the process. OCT, is non-invasive imaging technique, able to acquire scans in-situ and non-destructively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the suitability of OCT as in-situ and non-destructive tool to gain a better understanding of biofouling behavior in membrane filtration systems. The OCT was employed to study the fouling behavior in two different membrane configurations: (i) submerged flat sheet membrane and (ii) spacer filled channel. Through the on-line acquisition of OCT scans and the study of the biomass morphology, it was possible to relate the impact of the fouling on the membrane performance. The on-line monitoring of biofilm formation on a flat sheet membrane was conducted in a gravity-driven submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) for 43 d. Four different phases were observed linking the variations in permeate flux with changes in biofilm morphology. Furthermore, the biofilm morphology was used in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to better understand the role of biofilm structure on the filtration mechanisms. The time-resolved OCT analysis was employed to study the biofouling development at the early stage. Membrane coverage and average biofouling layer thickness were found to be linearly correlated with the permeate flux pattern. An integrated characterization methodology was employed to characterize the fouling on a flat sheet membrane, involving the use of OCT as first step followed by membrane autopsies, revealing the presence of a homogeneous layer on the surface. In a spacer filled channel a 3D OCT time series analysis of biomass development under representative conditions for a spiral-wound membrane element was performed. Biomass accumulation was stronger on the feed spacer during the early stage, impacting the feed channel pressure drop more than the permeate flux. OCT biofilm thickness map was presented as new tool to evaluate the biofouling development in membrane filtration systems through the use of a false color scale.

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No description available.

3-hole pressure probes are capable of accurately measuring flow angles in the yaw plane. These probes can be utilized inside a jet engine hot section for diagnostics and flow characterization. Sand and other particulate pose a significant risk to hot section components and measurement devices in gas turbine engines. The objective of this experiment was to develop a better understanding of the sensitivity of experimental 3-hole pressure probe designs to engine realistic sand fouling. In this study, Wedge, Cylindrical, and Trapezoidal probes were exposed to realistic hot section turbine environments of 1050 C at 65-70 m/s. 0-5 micron Arizona Road Dust(ARD) is heated under these conditions and used to foul the yaw probes. The sand deposited on the probe was observed to peel off the probe in thin sheets during ambient cool down. Sand fouling was assessed using a stereoscope and digital camera. Probe calibrations were performed in an ambient temperature, open air, calibration jet to mimic engine cold start conditions at Mach numbers of 0.3 and 0.5. Yaw coefficients were calculated for each probe using probe pressure and jet dynamic pressure readings. These coefficients were used to develop calibration curves for each probe initially, and again for every fouling test. Each probe performed differently, but the trends showed that the sand fouling had little impact on the probe error at Mach 0.3, and a slightly increased effect on the probe error at Mach 0.5. The experiment showed that when flow direction was determined using a true dynamic pressure reading from the jet, the probes were able to accurately measure flow direction even after being significantly sanded, some probes holes being over 50% blocked by sand accumulation. Accelerated erosion testing showed that the trapezoidal yaw probe was by far the most sensitive to sand accumulation, followed by the cylindrical probes, and the least sensitive was the wedge probe. A yaw angle range of interest was chosen to ±10 deg of yaw. The least errors from the Yaw Coefficient, as defined in this report, were found to be in the Trapezoidal and Perpendicular probe configurations. The least error found in the wedge probe. / MS / 3-hole pressure probes are used to measure the speed and direction of air and other fluid flows. These probes can be used inside an active jet engine to measure aspects of the airflow inside the engine during flight. One risk to aircraft engines is sand being ingested into the engine. This can cause significant damage to the engine as well as the hardware inside the engine. The objective of this experiment will be to determine how sand accumulation affects the performance of these probes. The experiment involved sanding the probes in a hot jet, then placing them in front of a room temperature air jet to take measurements. A microscope was used to determine how much sand was on the holes of the probe. Sand was observed to peel off naturally, as the probe cooled from the hot jet. Sand was also noticed to break off during the room temperature jet. The experiment showed that when the Jet pressures was measured from inside the jet, the probes were able to accurately measure flow direction even after being significantly sanded, <50% of the holes being blocked by sand. Of all the probes tested, the Wedge probe performed the best, though a close second was the Trapezoidal probe.

Yes / Oil and Gas plants consist of a set of heat exchangers, which are used in recovering the waste heat from product streams to preheat the oil. The heat transfer coefficient of exchangers declines considerably during the operation period due to fouling. Fouling in heat exchangers is a complex phenomenon due to the acceleration of many layers of chemical substances across tubes of heat exchangers resulting from chemical reactions and surface roughness. In this paper, the fouling process was determined as a critical failure in the heat exchanger. Failure is an accelerated fouling layer across the heat exchanger tubes, which can be the reason for the clogging of tubes. Hence, a risk assessment was conducted using the Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) approach to estimate the probability of fouling in heat exchangers. The results showed that the RBI approach can be used successfully to predict the suitable time to shut down the plant and conduct the fouling cleaning process.

Thesis (MScEng (Process Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Membrane fouling is universally considered to be one of the most critical problems in the wider application of membranes in filtration separation. Fouling is caused by the deposition of particles not only on the surface of the membrane, but also inside the membrane pores, which reduces permeate flux and leads to a reduction of the efficiency and the longevity of the membrane. The backpulsing cleaning method can be used to remove deposited foulants from the surface of the membrane, without having to shut down the plant. Ultrasonic time-domain reflectometry (UTDR) is a nondestructive technique, used to detect and measure the growth of fouling layer on the membrane surface during microfiltration and ultrafiltration processes. In this study flat-sheet microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes were fouled during a cross-flow filtration processes using dextrin, yeast or alumina (feed pressure 100 kPa and feed flow rate 0.45 liter/minute), in a flat cell. Infrasound frequency backpulsing, in the permeate space, was used to clean the membranes. Backpulsing was carried out using the permeate water or soap solutions. The peak pressure amplitude of the pulses used to clean the membranes was 140 kPa, the pulsing was applied at a frequency of 6.7 Hz. The main objectives of this research were: (1) to obtain a fundamental understandimg of how foulants deposit on membrane surfaces and how the foulant deposits can be removed using the backpulsing cleaning technique during MF and UF, (2) to use the ultrasonic measurement technique for monitoring the growth and removal of the fouling layer on the membrane surface and (3) Use scanning electron microscopy (SEM) as a direct measurement technique to analyze the structure the foulant deposits on membrane surfaces before and after cleaning. Results showed that a flux value of between 55% and 98% of the clean water flux value can be achieved by backpulsing cleaning. UTDR was successfully applied to monitor membrane cleaning and provide information about the growth and removal of fouling layers on the membrane surface. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Membraanaanvuiling is wêreldwyd bekend as een van die mees kritieke probleme wat die wyer aanwending van membrane vir skeidingsprosesse benadeel. Aanvuiling word veroorsaak deur die deponering van partikels, nie net op die oppervlak van die membraan nie, maar ook binne-in die membraanporieë, wat die volgende tot gevolg het: 'n afname in vloed deur die membraan, 'n afname in die effektiwiteit van die membraan, en 'n korter membraanleeftyd. Die teenpulsskoonmaakmetode kan gebruik word om die aanvuilingslaag vanaf die membranoppervlakte te verwyder sonder dat dit nodig is om die membraantoetsapparaat af te skakel. Ultrasoniese-tydsgebied-weerkaatsing (UTW) is 'n nie-vernietigende tegniek wat gebruik kan word om die groei van 'n aanvuilingslaag op 'n membraanoppervlakte tydens mikrofiltrasie (MF) of ultrafiltrasie (UF) te identifiseer en te meet. In hierdie studie is plat-vel MF en UF membrane bevuil gedurende 'n kruisvloeifiltrasieproses deur gebruik to maak van dekstraan, gis of alumina, in 'n plat sel. Infraklank-frekwensieteenpols, in die permeaatgebied, is gebruik om die membrane skoon te maak. Hiervoor is die proseswater of 'n seepoplossing gebruik. Die maksimum drukamplitude van die pulse wat gebruik is was 140 kPa, en die puls was aangewend teen 'n frekwensie van 6.7 Hz. Die hoofdoelwite van hierdie studie was die volgende: (1) om inligting in te win oor hoe aanvuilingsmateriale op membraanoppervlaktes gedeponeer word tydens MF en UF en hoe hulle verwyder kan word deur gebruik te maak van die teenpulsskoonmaaktegniek; (2) om van die teenpulsskoonmaaktegniek gebruik te maak om die groei van die bevuilingslaag asook die verwydering daarvan op die membraanoppervlakte te monitor; en (3) om van skandeerelektronmikroskopie (SEM) as 'n direkte analitiesetegniekgebruik te maak om die struktuur van die aanvuilingsmateriaal voor en na die die skoonmaakproses te analiseer. Deur gebruik te maak van teenpulsskoonmaak kon die membraanvloed tot tussen 55–98% van die oorspronklike suiwerwatervloed verbeter word. Sodoende is ultrasoniese-tydsgebiedweerkaatsing suksesvol gebruik om die skoonmaak van membrane te monitor asook om inligting in te win i.v.m. die groei en verwydering van die aanvuilingslae op die membraanoppervlaktes.

In this study the fouling mechanisms of various microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes were studied when subjected to crossflow filtration using various protein solutions. Experimentation was carried out using controlled flux experiments and fouling phenomena was investigated via the monitoring of the transmembrane pressure (TMP) and rejection. Electron microscopy was employed to study fouling on microfiltration membranes when single protein solutions were filtered while a novel method involving Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-MS) was developed to qualitatively and quantitatively analyse mixed proteins fouled on ultrafiltration membranes. An apparent critical flux was identified whereby fouling was shown to occur at fluxes where there was no increase in TMP. TMP increase is one of the common indicators of fouling in controlled flux operation. Microfiltration experiments showed that the imposition of the apparent critical flux is accompanied by rapid increases in hydraulic resistance and the membrane wall concentration. Pore blockage and narrowing occurred at somewhat higher fluxes as indicated by increases in the observed rejection. Fouling was not influenced greatly by the addition of electrolytes for microfiltration membranes but observed transmissions were found to be greater than 100% when ultrafiltration membranes were employed. For all membranes used, the actual value of the apparent critical flux was shown to be independent of the salt concentration but dependent on pH. Sub apparent-critical constant flux microfiltration showed the existence of an aggregation/deposition time lag after which the membrane experiences a rapid increase in resistance due to protein aggregates blocking a majority of pores. This phenomenon was shown to be dependent on pH and ionic strength and was concluded to be the product of a balance between electrostatic, solubility and hydrophobic interactions.

With the growing use of membranes in the water industry, different methods for using membranes to treat water is still occurring. Enhancing membrane performance is generally performed with extensive pretreatment methods before the feedwater is filtered by the membrane. With the utilization of direct membrane filtration (DF), no pretreatment is performed and the membrane is exposed to raw wastewater. While this may suggest that membrane performance and permeate quality would suffer in the process, DF testing with a 0.03 µm ultrafiltration PVDF membrane showed that relatively high membrane flux was sustained while producing a high quality effluent. Due to the rejection of the membrane, a highly concentrated fraction of the wastewater, which is significantly reduced in volume but high in solids and organic strength, is obtained and can be treated in other ways. A process is proposed to treat municipal wastewater by coupling a DF system with an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). AnMBRs generally treat industrial strength wastewater, which is high in chemical oxygen demand (COD), and may struggle with domestic wastewater, which is generally considered low strength in terms of COD. By coupling the DF with an AnMBR, the DF-AnMBR can be used to treat the low strength domestic wastewater. The DF portion can handle the bulk of the liquid fraction, while the highly concentrated fraction of wastewater is treated by the AnMBR stage, thus improving the energy profile of the AnMBR and enhancing performance. A series of flow and mass balance equations for the combined DF-AnMBR was developed, and used to shed insight on design parameters relevant to this novel treatment process. Since membrane fouling occurs gradually over weeks or months, it is difficult to systematically determine how processes changes may affect membrane performance. Hence, a method to rapidly determine the fouling propensity of wastewater was desired. The modified fouling index (MFI) was previously developed to test the fouling propensity of feedwater for seawater RO desalination, but has not been applied to membrane filtration of wastewater. The MFI method was adapted and used to test the fouling propensity of various treatment streams in the DF-AnMBR system, including raw domestic wastewater, concentrated domestic wastewater (20X by DF), and liquor from an active AnMBR. The effect of powdered activated carbon (PAC) on fouling propensity was also investigated. Raw wastewater had a fouling potential of about 25% of the AnMBR MFI, and with the utilization of PAC the fouling potential was further decreased to nearly 50% of the original fouling potential. The DF concentrated stream had a higher MFI value than liquor from the AnMBR, but presumably some of organics contributing to fouling would be degraded in the AnMBR. This study demonstrated that DF of raw wastewater is feasible, and the combined use of DF and AnMBR is highly promising.