Patent ID: 6463790
Filing Date: 2002-10-15
Classification: B01D,G01N

Abstract:
A membrane filtration apparatus for continuously monitoring progress of a membrane fouling over a filtration time, while simultaneously performing a filtration of solutes from a feed, comprising:a feed tank for receiving a supply of the feed; a module having an upper membrane cell, a lower membrane cell and a membrane having pores and situated between the upper and lower membrane cells, and the module for permitting passage of a filtered permeate between the upper and lower membrane cells, means for measuring a set of physical properties of the feed; means for supplying the feed from the feed tank to the upper membrane cell of the module; means for measuring any variations or differences in the pressure between an upstream side and a downstream side of the membrane; means for measuring differences of a streaming potential across the membrane pores; means for measuring concentration of the permeate filtered through the membrane; and means for determining the membrane fouling by estimating a membrane potential using the physical properties of the feed, variations in the pressure difference between the upstream and downstream sides of the membrane and variations of the streaming potential difference, and by estimating a degree of solute rejection of the membrane using a concentration difference between the feed and the permeate.