Fouling Monitoring in Membrane Filtration Systems

Membrane filtration systems are employed in the water industry to produce drinking water and for advanced wastewater treatment. Fouling is considered the main problem in membrane filtration systems. Fouling occurs when the biomass deposited on the membrane surface leads to a membrane performance decline. Most of the available techniques for characterization of fouling involve the analysis of membrane samples after membrane autopsies. This approach provides information ex-situ destructively at the end of the filtration process. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) gained attention in the last years as noninvasive imaging technique, capable of acquiring scans in-situ and nondestructively. The online OCT monitoring enables visualizing and studying the biomass deposition over time under continuous operation. This approach allows to relate the impact of the fouling on the process. In the last years, the suitability of OCT as in-situ and nondestructive tool for the study of fouling in membrane filtration systems has been evaluated. The OCT has been employed to study the fouling in different membrane geometry and configuration for the treatment of seawater and wastewater. Nowadays, the OCT is employed to better understand the role of biomass structure on the filtration mechanisms