DETERMINATION OF FOULING MECHANISM IN ULTRAFILTRATION OF ELECTROPLATING WASTEWATER

Wastewater from electroplating industries is usually contaminated with high concentration of hazardous materials, such as nickel, copper, and chromium. Therefore, the electroplating wastewater is one of the environmental problems that require a novel solution to reduce risks for human and environment. Ultrafiltration is a promising technology to overcome this problem due to its ability to reject all suspended solids. However, membrane fouling still becomes a major obstacle in ultrafiltration processes. Fouling reduces the permeate flux and increases membrane operational costs due to membrane cleaning. In this work, fouling mechanism that occurred in polyacrylonitrile based ultrafiltration for electroplating wastewater treatment was investigated. The effects of trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and cross flow velocity on fouling mechanism were also studied. The results showed that in the first 20 minutes, intermediate blocking was occurred on the membrane surface, while cake formation was happened for the rest of filtration time. These results were applied for all TMP and cross flow velocity.