Influence of operating conditions on ceramic ultrafiltration membrane performance when treating textile effluents

This work studies the performance of three commercial ceramic ultrafiltration membranes (ZrO₂–TiO₂) treating raw effluent from a textile industry. The effect of crossflow velocity at 3, 4 and 5 m s⁻¹ as well as membrane characteristics, such as molecular weight cut-off (30, 50 and 150 kDa), on process performance were studied. Experiments were carried out in concentration mode in order to observe the effect of volume reduction factor simultaneously. Results showed a combined influence of both crossflow velocity and molecular weight cut-off on flux performance. TOC and COD removals up to 70% and 84% respectively were reached. On the other hand, almost complete color (>97%) and turbidity (>99%) removals were achieved for all the membranes and operating conditions.