USING MICROWAVES TO ACCELERATE AGEING OF AN ULTRAFILTRATION PES MEMBRANE BY NaOCl TO OBTAIN A SIMILAR AGEING STATE TO THAT FOR MEMBRANES WORKING AT THE INDUSTRIAL SCALE

摘要

Looking for a laboratory scale protocol that leads to aged membranes that could be representative of the aged state obtained at the industrial scale, this paper proposes a systematic study of the degradation of a polyethersulphone (PES)/ polyvinylpyrolidone (PVP) flat membrane by sodium hypochlorite. Different proto- cols are compared: ageing by immersion in static conditions with or without the coupling of applied micro- waves as well as in dynamic conditions, namely directly on an ultrafiltration (UF) pilot. Regardless of the protocol, the physico-chemical evolution of the pristine membrane always highlights the progressive removal of PVP and slow degradation of the PES matrix itself. The use of microwaves appears a very interesting way to significantly decrease the duration of the treatment required to damage a membrane close to the aged state at the industrial scale. Nevertheless, some limitations are also evident thanks to UF behaviour in terms of both water flux and protein filtration.