Volume 41, Issue 7 pp. 1305-1312
Research Article

Poly(vinylidene fluoride)-Based Membranes for Microalgae Filtration

Lisendra Marbelia

Lisendra Marbelia

KU Leuven, Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 200F, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

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Muhammad R. Bilad

Muhammad R. Bilad

Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Department of Chemical Engineering, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610 Perak, Malaysia

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Sarah Maes

Sarah Maes

KU Leuven, Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 200F, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

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Hassan A. Arafat

Hassan A. Arafat

Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Institute Center for Water and Environment (iWater), Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, P.O. Box 54224, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

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Ivo F. J. Vankelecom

Corresponding Author

Ivo F. J. Vankelecom

KU Leuven, Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 200F, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium

Correspondence: Ivo F. J. Vankelecom ([email protected]), KU Leuven, Centre for Surface Chemistry and Catalysis, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Celestijnenlaan 200F, Box 2461, 3001 Leuven, Belgium.Search for more papers by this author
First published: 22 March 2018
Citations: 16

Abstract

Two poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane modification approaches, i.e., poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) modification and sulfonation, were applied and investigated to produce a fouling-resistant membrane for microalgae filtration. Both methods were able to alter the membrane surface to become more hydrophilic. However, clean water permeance increased only for the PVP-modified membranes, while the sulfonated membranes underwent a significant morphology transformation to a denser membrane and thus lower permeance. Microalgae filtration with PVP-modified membranes showed less fouling compared to the pristine one, particularly in the beginning of the filtration, indicating that fouling reduction on these membranes mainly occurs in the initial fouling stage. Fouling is also found to be influenced by the microalgae species, possibly due to the different properties of the formed cake layer.

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