Polymer mixed-matrix nanocomposite membranes were prepared by a wet-phase inversion method and used in ultrafiltration processes to treat wastewater treatment plant effluent spiked with organic micropollutants. The effects of halloysite (Hal), TiO2, and functionalized single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT-COOH) nanofillers on the treatment efficiency, permeability loss, and fouling behavior of polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were investigated and compared with those of a pristine PES membrane. The nanocomposite membranes exhibited lower porosity and stronger negative surface charge because of the added hydrophilic nanofillers. The PES-Hal membrane achieved the optimal balance of permeability and micropollutant removal owing to enhanced pollutant adsorption on the membrane surface and the creation of an easily removable cake layer (i.e., reversible fouling). The PES-SWCNT-COOH membrane demonstrated the highest treatment efficiency, but also the high permeability loss. In contrast, PES-TiO2 exhibited excellent antifouling properties, but poorer treatment capabilities.

Electrospun membranes exhibit very promising properties, such as high surface area, high surface area-to-pore volume ratio, high pore interconnectivity, and uniform pore distribution. Nanoparticles are a promising alternative for improving the properties of the electrospun membranes. Titania nanoparticles, which are stable, resistant, and non-toxic, have various applications including water treatment, sensors, food additive and cosmetics. Due to the high hydrophilicity of titania nanoparticles, membrane fouling is reduced in titania nanoparticles doped membranes. Titania nanoparticle doped polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanocomposite electrospun membranes were prepared by electrospinning method in this work. Compared to bare PAN electrospun membranes 0.05% titania nanoparticles doped electrospun membranes have thinner nanofibers, higher hydrophilicity and almost 2 times lower bovine serum albumin adsorption, which shows lower fouling tendency.

Superheater is for generating superheated steam from the saturated steam from the evaporator outlet. In the case of pulverized coal fired boiler, a relatively small amount of ash causes problems with ash fouling on the heating surfaces, including the superheaters. In the convection pass of the boiler, the flue gas temperature is lower and ash deposits can be loose or sintered. Ash fouling not only reduces heat transfer from the flue gas to the steam, but also is the cause of a higher pressure drop on the flue gas flow path. In the case the pressure drop is greater than the power consumed by the fan increases. If the superheater surfaces are covered with ash than the steam temperature at the outlet of the superheater stages falls, and the flow rates of the water injected into attemperator should be reduced. There is also an increase in flue gas temperature after the different stages of the superheater. Consequently, this leads to a reduction in boiler efficiency. The paper presents the results of computational fluid dynamics simulations of the first stage superheater of both the boiler OP-210M using the commercial software. The temperature distributions of the steam and flue gas along the way they flow together with temperature of the tube walls and temperature of the ash deposits will be determined. The calculated steam temperature is compared with measurement results. Knowledge of these temperatures is of great practical importance because it allows to choose the grade of steel for a given superheater stage. Using the developed model of the superheater to determine its degree of ash fouling in the on-line mode one can control the activation frequency of steam sootblowers.

A simple model of behaviour of a single particle on the bulging membrane was presented. As a result of numerical solution of a motion equation the influence of the amplitude and frequency of bulging as well as the particle size on particle behaviour, especially its downstream velocity was investigated. It was found that the bulging of a membrane may increase the mean velocity of a particle or reinforce its diffusive behaviour, dependeing on the permeation velocity. The obtained results may help to design new production methods of highly fouling-resistant membranes.

The article reports the results of measurements of the acoustic pressure of acoustic waves generated by acoustic dust cleaners mounted in the convection pass of the 670MWth Circulating Fluidised Bed boiler. Based on measurements carried out and the spectral analysis of recorded signals it was found that the level of acoustic pressure generated by acoustic cleaners for the frequency of 100 Hz was too low for the efficient cleaning of the heated surfaces of the reheater RH2 and superheater SH3.

This paper presents ultrafiltration results of model BSA (bovine serum albumin) and MB (myoglobin) solutions prepared with or without NaCl addition. The protein concentrations in the solutions were equal to 0.05 g
dm􀀀3 for MB and 0.5 g
dm􀀀3 for BSA. The ultrafiltration tests were performed using a laboratory scale unit equipped with 90 mm ceramic disc membranes with a filtration area of 5:610􀀀3 m2 and cut-off of 50 or 150 kDa. The tests were run under constant process conditions, i.e. a cross flow volume (CFV) of 5 m
s􀀀1, transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 0.2 MPa, temperature of 20 ◦C and NaCl concentration of 0 or 10 wt%. The installation worked in a semi-open mode with a continuous permeate discharge and retentate recycle. The performance of the membranes was measured with the permeate volumetric flow rate, JV (m3m􀀀2s􀀀1) while their selectivity was determined by the protein rejection, R. The paper evaluates and discusses the protein rejection mechanisms as well as the influence of the membrane cut-off and sodium chloride concentration in the feed on the flux decline during the ultrafiltration of BSA and MB. Moreover, it provides an analysis of the first fouling phase by applying usual filtration laws.

Fouling is inevitable on the surfaces of industrial equipment, especially on heat-exchanging surfaces in contact with fluids, which causes water pollution and destroys the ecological environment. In this paper, a novel fouling-removal methodology for plate structure based on cavitation by multi-frequency ultrasonic guided waves is proposed, which can remove fouling on stainless steel plates. A numerical simulation method has been developed to study the acoustic pressure distribution on a steel plate. According to the simulation results, the distribution of sound pressure on the plate under triple-frequency excitation is denser and more prone to cavitation than in single-frequency cases and dual-frequency cases, which improves fouling removal rate. The stainless steel plate is immersed in water for the descaling experiment, and the results show that the fouling removal rates of three water-loaded stainless steel plates under different single-frequency excitation seem unsatisfactory. However, the multi-frequency excitation improves the descaling performance and the removal rate of fouling reaches 80%. This new method can be applied to the surface descaling of large equipment plates, which is of great significance for purifying water quality and protecting the ecological environment.

This paper presents an experimental study on chicken egg white solution ultrafiltration, where membrane fouling has been the main point of concern. Separation process has been performed with a 150 kDa tubular ceramic TiO2/Al2O3 membrane. The operating parameters have been set as follows: transmembrane pressure 105–310 kPa, cross-flow velocity 2.73–4.55 m/s, pH 5 and constant temperature of 293 K. Resistance-in-series model has been used to calculate total resistance and its components. The experimental data have been described with four pore blocking models (complete blocking, intermediate blocking, standard blocking and cake filtration). The results obtained show that the dominant fouling mechanism is represented by cake filtration model.

The modelling of colloidal fouling and defouling of hollow fibre membranes in the presence of membrane oscillations is analysed by means of numerical simulations as an effect of complex coupling between hydrodynamic and surface forces. To describe the latter the Derjaguin-Landau- Vervey-Overbeek (DLVO) model has been employed. We have investigated the influence of various parameters of the process like flow rate, mean particle diameter, amplitude and frequency of the oscillations, and others, on the efficiency of the defouling process. The investigated parameters is close to that of a silica suspension in , a typical system modelling used to investigate membrane separation. On the basis of numerical simulation results e have defined an optimal set of parameters preventing membrane fouling.