title: A mini-review on membrane fouling.
abstract: During the last decades, the interest of using membrane technology has emerged in wastewater treatment as well as drinking water and process water production. However, the impediment of the membrane technology is the fouling problem and consequently higher operating and membrane replacement cost. Hence, better understanding of membrane fouling is not only the key to solve the problems, but also is one of the main factors driving membrane technology forward. This mini-review paper identifies the major foulants and the principal membrane fouling mechanisms such as pore blocking, cake formation, concentration polarization, organic adsorption, inorganic precipitation and biological fouling. It also gives a holistic review about different fouling phenomena during the application of membrane separation technologies in water and wastewater treatment, with specific references to various problems, membranes, treatment processes and its practical applications.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Wenshan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Huu-Hao
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Ngo
authors.forename: Jianxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D057219:Biofouling; D003102:Colloids / Q000737:chemistry; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003102:Colloids; D007287:Inorganic Chemicals; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009930:Organic Chemicals; D052638:Particulate Matter