This study investigated the potential application of a novel low cost tubular ceramic membrane in treating wastewater generated by a local dairy industry. The low cost tubular membrane ($0.5) with 0.309 μm pore size, 53% porosity and 5.93 × 10−7 m3/m2s kPa water permeability was fabricated from natural clay materials by extrusion technique. The capability of the membrane for treating real dairy industry wastewater was tested in tangential mode of microfiltration operation at different applied pressure (207–414 kPa) and cross flow rate (5.55 × 10−7–2.22 × 10−6 m3/s). An increase in applied pressure and cross flow rate on the microfiltration process resulted in a decrease in percentage removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD). The novel membrane achieved a maximum reduction in COD up to 91% (135 mg/L) in the permeate stream with a flux of 2.59 × 10−6 m3/m2s, which is well within the permissible limit for wastewater discharge into the environment. These investigations affirmed the potential suitability of the membrane in dairy wastewater treatment to attain acceptable limit (

Dairy wastewater treatment using a novel low cost tubular ceramic membrane and membrane fouling mechanism using pore blocking models

Yan-Wen Gong

Papers

Treatment of dairy wastewater by two-stage membrane operation with ultrafiltration and nanofiltration.