AWWA JAW34918

A hydraulic model was developed to determine all flows and pressures in a continuous-flow hollow-fiber ultrafiltration (UF) system. A pilot-scale UF system was constructed to test the validity of the model. Deionized water was filtered through the system to simulate nonfouling conditions, and two colloidal suspensions of powdered activated carbon and clay simulated fouling conditions. All flows and pressures were continuously logged for later analysis. For fouling conditions, the flux was described by the resistance-in-series model, and a relationship was developed to describe the increase in effective membrane resistance as a function of time. This fitted function was then input into the hydraulic model to predict the flows and pressures in the system under nonsteady-fouling conditions. For nonfouling and fouling conditions, the predicted flows and pressures correlated well with the system flows and pressures. Includes 10 references, tables, figures.