Abstract
Effects of aeration intensity and distance between membranes on sludge accumulation process in the suction filtration of activated sludge suspension was investigated using directly immersed flat sheet membranes. It was shown that sludge accumulation in steady state, rate of sludge accumulation and sludge accumulation starting time can describe the sludge accumulation process. And dependency of them on the experimental conditions was investigated. It was shown that sludge accumulation in steady state and rate of sludge accumulation are mainly under the influence of the shear stress on membrane surface, and sludge accumulation starting time is under the influence of distance of membranes and blowing intensity. Further, it was investigated that the dependency of viscous sublayer on the sludge accumulation stariting time, and based on this, a relationship that can describe the sludge accumulation starting time is proposed.
