Ultrafiltration behaviors of alginate blocks at various calcium concentrations

Alginate, a linear copolymer, is composed of 1,4-linked β-d-mannuronic acid (M) and α-l-guluronic acid (G), which are combined into homopolymeric blocks (MM-block and GG-block) and heteropolymeric block (MG-block). It has been widely used as a model foulant in various studies of membrane fouling, thus this study investigated the impacts of calcium ion on MG-, MM- and GG-blocks of alginate and the filtration behaviors of the three types of alginate blocks at different concentrations of calcium ion. Results showed that calcium ion had the most serious effects on GG-blocks and significantly promotes the formation of transparent exopolymeric particles (TEP) from GG-blocks which in turn led to rapid formation of thick cake layer on membrane surface during the filtration of GG-blocks. As for MM-blocks, it was found that the formation of TEP was proportional to the Ca(2+) concentration in MM-blocks solution, while the membrane fouling was enhanced by Ca(2+) in the filtration of MM-blocks solution. Unlike MM- and GG-blocks, MG-blocks were nearly not affected by addition of calcium ion, as the result, there was no significant increase in TEP. The initial fouling rates and the mass of foulants deposed on the membrane surfaces further revealed a close correlation between the TEP concentration and the membrane fouling propensity. The observations by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) further confirmed the formation process of the cake layer by TEP on the membrane surface. This study offers deep insights into the development of membrane fouling by different alginate blocks in the presence of calcium ion, and suggests that TEP formed from alginate blocks played a very significant role in the fouling development.