Anti-fouling performance of fly-ash based ceramic microfiltration membrane in treatment of suspension in water

Fly-ash based ceramic microfiltration membrane, a novel low-cost inorganic membrane, was investigated for its antifouling ability in treatment of water containing suspension. The composition of filtration resistance was studied. The filtration performance was compared with those of similar processes using other membrane materials in literature. The filtration experiment continually run for 2~45 h without back-flush and chemical cleaning. The retention of fly-ash, kaolin and Scenedemus obliquus was 100% while the resistance was lower than that of other membrane process in literature. The fly-ash based ceramic membrane kept a high flux after a long-time running, showing a good ability of anti-fouling. The retention of activated sludge was 99.8% with high specific flux of 1 170 L/(m·h·MPa), showing a significant advantage in flux comparing with other membrane materials.