A Model-Driven Approach to Assessing the Fouling Mechanism in the Crossflow Filtration of Laccase Extract from...

Membrane technology is primarily used for the separation and purification of biotechnological products, which contain proteins and enzymes. Membrane fouling during crossflow filtration remains a significant challenge. This study aims to initially validate crossflow filtration models, particularly related to pore-blocking mechanisms, through a comparative analysis with dead-end filtration models. One crossflow microfiltration (MF) and six consecutive ultrafiltration (UF) stages were implemented to concentrate laccase extracts from Pleurotus ostreatus 202 fungi. The complete pore-blocking mechanism significantly impacts the MF, UF 1000, UF 100 and UF 10 stages, with the highest related filtration constant (Kb_F) estimated at 12.60 × 10^-4 (m^-1). Although the intermediate pore-blocking mechanism appears across all filtration stages, UF 100 is the most affected, with an associated filtration constant (Ki_F) of 16.70 (m^-1). This trend is supported by the highest purification factor (6.95) and the presence of 65, 62 and 56 kDa laccases in the retentate. Standard pore blocking occurs at the end of filtration, only in the MF and UF 1000 stages, with filtration constants (Ks_F) of 29.83 (s^-0.5m^-0.5) and 31.17 (s^-0.5m^-0.5), respectively. The absence of cake formation and the volume of permeate recovered indicate that neither membrane was exposed to exhaustive fouling that could not be reversed by backwashing.