Membrane Fouling Mechanism of HTR-PVDF and HMR-PVDF Hollow Fiber Membranes in MBR System

Membrane fouling has attracted a lot of attention in the membrane separation field. Herein, we selected the homogeneous-reinforced polyvinylidene fluoride (HMR-PVDF) and heterogeneous-reinforced polyvinylidene fluoride (HTR-PVDF) hollow fiber membranes to investigate the fouling mechanism of membranes in membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems. The filtration models, membrane adsorption experiment, and membrane resistance distribution after a long or short time operation were assessed to compare their antifouling properties in order to verify the optimal membrane. The outer surface, shown by an SEM observation of the HMR-PVDF and HTR-PVDF membranes, was rough and smooth, respectively. Moreover, the HMR-PVDF membranes had a higher adsorption capacity than the HTR-PVDF membranes when an equilibrium state was almost 2.81 times that of the original membrane resistance. A cleaning method (mainly physical and chemical) was utilized to illustrate the operational stability of the membranes. In summary, the HMR-PVDF hollow fiber membrane presented better antifouling properties than the HTR-PVDF membranes, which was conducive to industrial implementation.