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Effect of Ultrasonic Frequency on the Performance and Cleaning of UF Membranes Used in Sea Water Desalination Pretreatment

Sahar Mhiyo, Ahmed Al-Mahmoud, Nidal Hilal

Civil and Environmental Research, Volume: 10, Issue: 3, Pages: 1 - 8

Swansea University Author: Nidal Hilal

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the impact of ultrasound (US) on the performance and cleaning of ultrafiltrationmembranes (UF) used in the pretreatment of sea water desalination plants. The effects of ultrasonic frequency onflux and fouling during the ultrafiltration process to saline solutions contamin...

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Published in: Civil and Environmental Research
ISSN: 2224-5790 2225-0514
Published: 2018
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa39410
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Abstract: This study aims to evaluate the impact of ultrasound (US) on the performance and cleaning of ultrafiltrationmembranes (UF) used in the pretreatment of sea water desalination plants. The effects of ultrasonic frequency onflux and fouling during the ultrafiltration process to saline solutions contaminated with Humic Acid (HA) wereinvestigated. Ultrasonic application had a strong impact on the normal ultrafiltration process, especially at lowfrequency. The estimated increase in the flux were 67% and 38% when applying ultrasonic irradiation on deadend flat sheet ultrafiltration cell at 300 W and frequencies of 28 kHz and 40 kHz, respectively, but there was nosignificant increase in the flux at the upper frequency 100kHz where the flux nearly identical to that wasobtained by stirring only. Upon ultrasonic application, total filtration resistance and reverse resistance, whichinclude concentration polarization and cake layer, were sufficiently reduced as revealed by the quantitativeresistance analysis using resistance in series model. The flux recovery ratio was increased to 72% when 28 kHzfrequency was applied during mechanical and chemical cleaning. Ultrasonic enhancement factor (EUS) washigher by 11% in the online application of US on UF process than that of cleaning process. The application ofultrasound is an effective and promising way to enhance the ultrafiltration and cleaning of fouled membranesused in the pre-treatment of the seawater desalination process.
Item Description: The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License.
Keywords: ultrasound frequency, ultrafiltration, pretreatment, desalination of sea water
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 3
Start Page: 1
End Page: 8