Characterization of fouling of membrane contactors

In this study liquid-liquid membrane contactors have been tested for ammonia removal from model manure solution and undigested pig manure. The aim of this work is to compare the efficiency of ammonia removal by different hydrophobic membranes including the material’s influence on mass transfer of ammonia and membrane fouling tendency. The surface morphology of both clean and fouled membranes by model manure solution and undigested pig manure has been studied by: Optical and Atomic Force Microscopy and contact angle measurements. Based on the experimental results, it is concluded that real manure achieved higher ammonia removal than the synthetic model manure
solution. This might be due to the larger particle size of the milled straw in the model solution compared to the size of suspended solids present in real manure. From the fouling autopsy, it was found that PTFE membranes are more prone to fouling than PP membranes. In both membranes the hydrophobicity decreased after running the process for 30 h, especially when undigested pig manure was used.