Membrane filtration of microalgae

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are known to greatly affect membrane fouling. This holds true for microalgal EPS. Previous literatures have reported on the worsening effect of higher EPS concentration on microalgae fouling during microfiltration and ultrafiltration. However, no previous stu...

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Main Author: Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim.
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Final Year Project (FYP)
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45572
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author Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim.
author_sort Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim.
collection NTU
description Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are known to greatly affect membrane fouling. This holds true for microalgal EPS. Previous literatures have reported on the worsening effect of higher EPS concentration on microalgae fouling during microfiltration and ultrafiltration. However, no previous study examined which fraction of EPS was the main contributor to fouling. The purpose of this study was thus to investigate the role of bound EPS (B-EPS). This was carried out by comparing the fouling observed for whole cell filtrations against the fouling observed for filtrations of B-EPS. B-EPS was extracted from 50mg/L algae suspension using the cation exchange resin method with an extraction time of 6 hours. 20, 50 and 100 mg/L whole cell filtrations were carried out at fluxes of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 LMH while 50mg/L B-EPS filtrations were carried out at fluxes of 15 and 20 LMH. It was determined that the TMP increase of B-EPS was 97.7% of the TMP increase of whole cells for 15LMH and 99.8% of the TMP increase of whole cells for 20LMH. This suggests that B-EPS fouling is a major contributor in whole cell fouling. Optical density results showed that B-EPS had higher recovery rates as compared whole cells. This suggests that the B-EPS fragments were easily transported and deposited onto the membrane surface than whole cells, likely due to their smaller size and adhesive properties. More studies need to be done to ascertain to what extent these two characteristics of B-EPS, as well as other characteristics, affect its fouling potential and influence its role in whole cell fouling.
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spelling ntu-10356/455722023-03-03T17:04:18Z Membrane filtration of microalgae Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Philip Wong DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) are known to greatly affect membrane fouling. This holds true for microalgal EPS. Previous literatures have reported on the worsening effect of higher EPS concentration on microalgae fouling during microfiltration and ultrafiltration. However, no previous study examined which fraction of EPS was the main contributor to fouling. The purpose of this study was thus to investigate the role of bound EPS (B-EPS). This was carried out by comparing the fouling observed for whole cell filtrations against the fouling observed for filtrations of B-EPS. B-EPS was extracted from 50mg/L algae suspension using the cation exchange resin method with an extraction time of 6 hours. 20, 50 and 100 mg/L whole cell filtrations were carried out at fluxes of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 LMH while 50mg/L B-EPS filtrations were carried out at fluxes of 15 and 20 LMH. It was determined that the TMP increase of B-EPS was 97.7% of the TMP increase of whole cells for 15LMH and 99.8% of the TMP increase of whole cells for 20LMH. This suggests that B-EPS fouling is a major contributor in whole cell fouling. Optical density results showed that B-EPS had higher recovery rates as compared whole cells. This suggests that the B-EPS fragments were easily transported and deposited onto the membrane surface than whole cells, likely due to their smaller size and adhesive properties. More studies need to be done to ascertain to what extent these two characteristics of B-EPS, as well as other characteristics, affect its fouling potential and influence its role in whole cell fouling. Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) 2011-06-15T04:13:50Z 2011-06-15T04:13:50Z 2010 2010 Final Year Project (FYP) http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45572 en Nanyang Technological University 56 p. application/pdf
spellingShingle DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment
Nurulhuda Abdul Rahim.
Membrane filtration of microalgae
title Membrane filtration of microalgae
title_full Membrane filtration of microalgae
title_fullStr Membrane filtration of microalgae
title_full_unstemmed Membrane filtration of microalgae
title_short Membrane filtration of microalgae
title_sort membrane filtration of microalgae
topic DRNTU::Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment
url http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45572
work_keys_str_mv AT nurulhudaabdulrahim membranefiltrationofmicroalgae