ASSESSING THE ACCERALATED AGEING TEST OF PVDF HOLLOW FIBER MEMBRANES COMPARING WITH AGEING AT DRINKING WATER TREATMENT PLANT

Abstract

 Regular chemical cleaning is conducted in drinking water treatment plants(DWTP) to recover flux declining. In the present experiment, we conducted accererated ageing test by soaking PVDF hollow fiber membrane in sodium hypochlorite, which is common cleaning agent in membrane fitration system. In addition to that, we harvested membranes which were used in a DWTP. We compared virgin membrane, used membrane and soaked membrane by assessing surface structure, selectivity, permeability and pore size distribution. Soaked membrane showed less selectivity than virgin membrane and the decline was similar to used membrane. On the other hand, surface structure and pore size distribution were different between used and soaked membrane. Chages in structure can be different between acceralated ageing test and ageing at DWTP.