Non-invasive observation of external and internal deposition during membrane filtration by X-ray microimaging (XMI)

This paper describes the application of phase contrast X-ray microimaging (XMI) for the non-invasive observation of membrane filtration processes. Using a single hollow fibre with lumen feed of an iron hydroxide suspension it is shown that the technique can observe the cake layer inside the fibre and fouling deposition within the pores. This technique has the potential to observe real-time fouling phenomena within a membrane at a higher level of resolution than other non-invasive methods.