Membrane fouling from ammonia recovery analyzed by ATR-FTIR imaging

The composition of membrane fouling from membrane distillation ammonia from model pig manure and the change in fouling composition as a result of three cleaning approaches was examined using ATR-FTIR imaging and k-means clustering. The use of ATR-FTIR imaging is advantageous as it is a label free technique that provides information on the chemical composition of the fouling as well as a high spatial resolution. The model manure was designed to resemble average Danish pig manure containing representative concentrations of inorganic and organic compounds and particle size distribution similar to the liquid fraction from mechanically separated manure. The fouling layer deposited on polypropylene, PP, and polytetrafluoroethylene, PTFE, membranes were investigated in combination with three cleaning procedures applying water, 1 M NaOH solution followed by a 1 M citric acid solution or Novadan cleaning agents. The spectral data revealed that the fouling layer deposited on both PP and PTFE membranes before cleaning mainly consisted of carbohydrates, protein and lipids. Carboxylates and free fatty acids originating from reactions between NaOH and straw and proteins and lipids, respectively, and lignin were identified in some of the samples. The combination of PTFE membrane and Novadan cleaning agent resulted in the cleanest membranes, only residual lipids were identified on these samples.