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This article focuses on the optimizationof membrane cleaning. Maintaining membranepermeability is essential for sustainingthroughput, and for this the membranesmust be kept clean. Although muchresearch has been done on membrane fouling,there is a paucity of information aboutmembrane cleaning.Chemical cleaning of membranes is a keypart of plant operations and maintenance.This study indicates that the methodologyused to measure permeability recovery fromchemical cleaning provides a useful tool toassess the effectiveness of the existing chemicalcleaning protocol and also helps identifyoptimum cleaning conditions.This research further finds that there isno simple correlation between water quality,membrane type, and the required cleaningprotocol across the nine sites sampled overthe course of this four-year study. It appearsthat membrane cleanability can differregionally and seasonally as well as withmembrane plant operating conditions.Because of this variability, it seems criticalto periodically assess the effectiveness of theexisting chemical cleaning protocol andidentify the optimum one.Utility operators will be interestedboth in the general results (i.e., thepermeability recovery possible fromoptimization of cleaning) and the actualpractical methodology used to identifythe parameters for cleaning optimization.This article reinforces the view thatmore conservative design and operationof membrane plants yield a moresustainable throughput.

Includes 27 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. 102 - No. 12 Published: 12/01/2010 File Size: 1 file , 640 KB