Application of an ultrasound field in chemical cleaning of ceramic tubular membrane fouled with whey proteins

Chemical cleaning of a severe in-pore-fouling may be improved by applying an ultrasound (US) field in a cleaning-in-place (CIP) system, under both the batch and flow conditions. This study is concerned with the cleaning of a 200-nm ceramic membrane, fouled with whey proteins, in an US field of relatively low frequency of 35 kHz, without applying a transmembrane pressure (TMP) and cross-flow velocity. Two types of cleaning agent solutions of different concentrations were applied: alkali (NaOH) and a mixture of commercial detergents (P3-Ultrasil 67 and 69) at a sonication time of 30 min. It was found that the application of US was less effective in the combination with sodium hydroxide than with the mixture of commercial detergents. Using US in a mixture of 0.25% w/w P3-Ultrasil 67 and 0.4% w/w P3-Ultrasil 69 resulted in the highest flux recovery of 86.5 ± 2.9%, after 30 min of sonication, and produced an overall efficiency of 96.3 ± 0.4%, after the second sonication. It was concluded that the application of the US field in a batch mode, combined with the mentioned chemical agents, can significantly improve the cleaning efficiency.