Support media impacts on humic acid, cellulose, and kaolin clay in reducing fouling in a submerged hollow fiber membrane system

The impact of support media on a submerged hollow fiber PVDF ultrafiltration membrane system filtering synthetic water with different organic and inorganic matter content was investigated using a factorial design of experiments. Support media was added into a membrane reactor where membrane fouling and water quality parameters were assessed. The addition of support media into the membrane reactor resulted in a 35–50% reduction in membrane fouling with different humic acid and kaolin clay concentrations compared to the control system with no media; however there was no apparent impact of support media in minimizing fouling by cellulose. The support media in the membrane reactor did not affect any of the water quality parameters measured; however, there was a small but measurable difference in the permeate volume and flux recovery (4% flux difference) between the two systems. This favorable difference was attributed to the presence of support media in the membrane reactor.