Cleaning of fouled ultrafiltration (UF) membrane by algae during reservoir water treatment

Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling is often encountered in water treatment. Algae could be removed by UF membrane for its nominal pore size, and the algae cells deposited on the surface of UF membrane. The cells attach to the membrane, they start to release secretion and produce extracellular polymetric substances (EPS), which accumulate on the surface and cause the flux decline. This study examined the effects of hydraulic and chemical cleaning on fouled membrane by algae-rich reservoir water. Four kinds of hydraulic cleaning method were investigated, including forward flushing, backwashing, forward flushing followed by backwashing and backwashing followed by forward flushing. Backwashing followed by forward flushing was more effective for flux recovery, and 20 min duration were enough for the cleaning. To maximize flux recovery for the algae-fouled membrane, chemical cleaning was applied as enhanced cleaning strategies. NaOH, NaOCl, and citric acid were used for cleaning agents. The cleaning with the combination of NaOH (0.02 N) and NaOCl (100 mg/L) was effective than separate uses. And the cleaning duration was determined as 4 h.