Effect of aeration on the critical flux of immersed ultrafiltration membrane for drinking water treatment

To focus on the optimization of immersed ultrafiltration(UF) operation for drinking water treatment, critical flux of the UF membrane and the effect of aeration on it was investigated though the bench-scale experiments. Results show that a critical flux exists in the operation of UF, below which the fouling develops very slowly. The critical flux of UF membrane could be enhanced by both the continuous aeration and intermittent aeration, while the critical flux could not be increased when the aeration intensity exceed a range. It could be seen form the long period of operation that continuous aeration was more effective than intermittent aeration in controlling the membrane fouling.