Abstract
The effect of Trans-Membrane Pressure (TMP) on permeate flux during cross-flow microfiltration of bacterial cell suspensions in tubular ceramic membranes is studied experimentally. Continuous filtration experiments with suspensions of whole bacterial cells (Mycobacterium M156) show a dramatic permeate flux decline with increasing TMP. During the very early stages of the filtration process, a linear relationship between permeate flux and TMP is observed, suggesting an initial surface sorption of cells on the membrane surface. At longer times, the permeate flux vs. TMP data exhibit a critical pressure beyond which the permeate flux declines with increasing trans-membrane pressure. This is interpreted in terms of the formation of a compressible cake, whose permeability can be described through the Carman-Kozeny equation.
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Received: 10 June 1996
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Caridis, K., Papathanasiou, T. Pressure effects in cross-flow microfiltration of suspensions of whole bacterial cells. Bioprocess Engineering 16, 199–208 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/s004490050309
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004490050309