title: Influences of fractal dimension of membrane surface on interfacial interactions related to membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor.
abstract: Influences of fractal dimension (Df) of membrane surface on interfacial interactions related to membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor were investigated based on thermodynamic methods. It was found that membrane surface had significant fractal features, and its fractal dimension could be characterized by the power spectrum method. The modified Weierstrass-Mandelbrot (WM) function was found to be effective to model the fractal membrane surface, and higher Dfcorresponded to higher number of fine asperities in the modeled surface. Moreover, the modeled surface roughness exponentially decreased with Df. Interaction calculations according to a novel method showed that the interactions for fractal membrane surface were elongated and weakened as compared with smooth membrane surface. It was interestingly found that the absolute value of total interaction monotonically decreased with Dfof membrane surface. As Dfis a measure of substance stiffness, this result indicates that softer surface is more susceptible to adhesion by sludge foulant. The results offered new insights into membrane fouling mechanisms and alleviation.
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China.
authors.forename: Lining
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resource Reuse, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiwei
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China.
authors.forename: Meijia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China.
authors.forename: Liguo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China.
authors.forename: Huachang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China. Electronic address: hjlin@zjnu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongjun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: College of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua 321004, PR China. Electronic address: 42984267@qq.com.
authors.forename: Genying
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors; D003198:Computer Simulation; D005427:Flocculation; D017709:Fractals; D055595:Mechanical Phenomena; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000737:chemistry; D016062:Porosity; D012722:Sewage; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D011145:Polyvinyls; D012722:Sewage; C024865:polyvinylidene fluoride; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
keywords: Adhesion; Fractal dimension; Interfacial interaction; Membrane bioreactor; Membrane fouling