Abstract
The impact of soluble macromolecular substances on fouling in membrane filtrations is discussed. As there are some potential reasons for the increase of the filtration resistance, an experimental system to determine the effect of the adsorption on it quantitatively is introduced with some experimental results. An important concept that a unique hydration structure must be formed near the membrane surface in order to suppress the adsorption of the macromolecular substances is then pointed out. Finally, two methods for preparing membranes with their surfaces having such a characteristic hydration structure are introduced, and some of the highlight data on their great low-fouling performances are shown. It is important to grasp a clear picture of the phenomenon on the micro– and meso–scale in the filtration and to understand fouling in a quantitative way, enabling us to develop excellent low–fouling membranes.
