Development and Application of Combined Models of Membrane Fouling for the Ultrafiltration of Limed Sugarcane Juice

Abstract

A ceramic ultrafiltration membrane is applied to treat sugarcane juice, to improve the quality of the clarified juice, and to reduce or eliminate the usage of chemicals in the sugar industry. Although membrane fouling is unavoidable, fouling can be solved by understanding its mechanism to develop optimal operating and cleaning strategies. In this study, four combined fouling models, namely cake–narrowing–blocking, cake–narrowing, cake–blocking, and narrowing–blocking, were developed and employed to elucidate the ceramic membrane (0.05 μm) fouling mechanisms during the ultrafiltration of limed sugarcane juice. Results showed that the fitting of the combined models was better than that of any of the individual models. Ceramic membrane fouling during sugarcane juice ultrafiltration was complex possibly because of the involvement of several fouling mechanisms instead of one model. The dominant fouling mechanism was cake layer formation followed by pore constriction, and the rate of existence of pore blocking was the lowest among the combinations.