Fouling Mitigation by Optimizing Flow Rate and Pulsed Electric Field during Bipolar Membrane Electroacidification of Caseinate Solution

The efficiency of separation processes using ion exchange membranes (IEMs), especially in the food industry, is significantly limited by the fouling phenomenon, which is the process of the attachment and growth of certain species on the surface and inside the membrane. Pulsed electric field (PEF) mode, which consists in the application of constant current density pulses during a fixed time (Ton) alternated with pause lapses (Toff), has a positive antifouling impact. The aim of this study was to investigate the combined effect of three different relatively high flow rates of feed solution (corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 187, 374 and 560) and various pulse–pause ratios of PEF current regime on protein fouling kinetics during electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) of a model caseinate solution. Four different pulse/pause regimes (with Ton/Toff ratios equal to 10 s/10 s, 10 s/20 s, 10 s/33 s and 10 s/50 s) during electrodialysis (ED) treatment were evaluated at a current density of 5 mA/cm2. It was found that increasing the pause duration and caseinate solution flow rate had a positive impact on the minimization of protein fouling occurring on the cationic surface of the bipolar membrane (BPM) during the EDBM. Both a long pause and high flow rate contribute to a more effective decrease in the concentration of protons and caseinate anions at the BPM surface: a very good membrane performance was achieved with 50 s of pause duration of PEF and a flow rate corresponding to Re = 374. A further increase in PEF pause duration (above 50 s) or flow rate (above Re = 374) did not lead to a significant decrease in the amount of fouling.

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Impacts of Flow Rate and Pulsed Electric Field Current Mode on Protein Fouling Formation during Bipolar Membrane Electroacidification of Skim Milk

Membranes ◽

10.3390/membranes10090200 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 200

Author(s):

Vladlen S. Nichka ◽

Thibaud R. Geoffroy ◽

Victor Nikonenko ◽

Laurent Bazinet

Keyword(s):

Reynolds Number ◽

Electric Field ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Skim Milk ◽

Current Mode ◽

Pulsed Electric Field ◽

Bipolar Membrane ◽

Solution Flow ◽

Bipolar Membranes ◽

Protein Fouling

Fouling is one of the major problems in electrodialysis. The aim of the present work was to investigate the effect of five different solution flow rates (corresponding to Reynolds numbers of 162, 242, 323, 404 and 485) combined with the use of pulsed electric field (PEF) current mode on protein fouling of bipolar membrane (BPM) during electrodialysis with bipolar membranes (EDBM) of skim milk. The application of PEF prevented the fouling formation by proteins on the cationic interface of the BPM almost completely, regardless of the flow rate or Reynolds number. Indeed, under PEF mode of current the weight of protein fouling was negligible in comparison with CC current mode (0.07 ± 0.08 mg/cm2 versus 5.56 ± 2.40 mg/cm2). When a continuous current (CC) mode was applied, Reynolds number equals or higher than 323 corresponded to a minimal value of protein fouling of BPM. This positive effect of both increasing the flow rate and using PEF is due to the facts that during pauses, the solution flow flushes the accumulated protein from the membrane while in the same time there is a decrease in concentration polarization (CP) and consequently decrease in H+ generation at the cationic interface of the BPM, minimizing fouling formation and accumulation.

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Eradication of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by Pulsed Electric Field Treatments

Microorganisms ◽

10.3390/microorganisms8111684 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (11) ◽

pp. 1684

Author(s):

Efrat Emanuel ◽

Irina Dubrovin ◽

Ester Hanya ◽

Gad A. Pinhasi ◽

Roman Pogreb ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Saccharomyces Cerevisiae ◽

Electric Field ◽

Current Density ◽

Food Industry ◽

Treatment Cycle ◽

Combined Treatment ◽

Pulsed Electric Field ◽

Recovery Processes ◽

Membrane Resealing ◽

Phosphate Buffered Saline

One of the promising technologies that can inactivate microorganisms without heat is pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of PEF treatment (2.9 kV cm−1, 100 Hz, 5000 pulses in trains mode of 500 pulses with a pulse duration of 10 µs) on Saccharomyces cerevisiae eradication and resealing in different conditions, such as current density (which is influenced by the medium conductivity), the sort of medium (phosphate buffered saline (PBS) vs. yeast malt broth (YMB) and a combined treatment of PEF with the addition of preservatives. When the S. cerevisiae were suspended in PBS, increasing the current density from 0.02 to 3.3 A cm−2 (corresponding to a total specific energy of 22.04 to 614.59 kJ kg−1) led to an increase of S. cerevisiae eradication. At 3.3 A cm−2, a total S. cerevisiae eradication was observed. However, when the S. cerevisiae in PBS was treated with the highest current density of 3.3 A cm−2, followed by dilution in a rich YMB medium, a phenomenon of cell membrane resealing was observed by flow cytometry (FCM) and CFU analysis. The viability of S. cerevisiae was also examined when the culture was exposed to repeating PEF treatments (up to four cycles) with and without the addition of preservatives. This experiment was performed when the S. cerevisiae were suspended in YMB containing tartaric acid (pH 3.4) and ethanol to a final concentration of 10% (v/v), which mimics wine. It was shown that one PEF treatment cycle led to a reduction of 1.35 log10, compared to 2.24 log10 when four cycles were applied. However, no synergic effect was observed when the preservatives, free SO2, and sorbic acid were added. This study shows the important and necessary knowledge about yeast eradication and membrane recovery processes after PEF treatment, in particular for application in the liquid food industry.

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Effect of Contaminant Flow-rate and Applied Voltage on the Current Density and Electric Field of Polymer Tracking Test

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE) ◽

10.11591/ijece.v6i2.9517 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (2) ◽

pp. 819

Author(s):

F. L. Muhamedin ◽

M. A. M. Piah ◽

N. A. Othman ◽

Nasir Ahmed Algeelani

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Current Density ◽

Applied Voltage ◽

Fem Simulation ◽

Surface Discharge ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Insulation Material ◽

Material Degradation ◽

Contaminant Flow

<p>Electrical failure due to surface discharge on the insulation material will cause material degradation and eventually lead to system failure. The flow of leakage current (LC) on the insulator surface under wet contamination is used to determine the material degradation level. According to IEC 60587 standard, LC exceeding 60 mA for more than two seconds is considered as failure. In this study, the electric field and current density distributions on the linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and natural rubber blend material have been analyzed using finite element method (FEM) analysis. The physical parameters used in FEM simulation were applied with voltage and contaminant flow rate, in accordance to contaminant conductivity. Tracking test condition according to IEC 60587 standard has been applied as proposed by the reference work in simulation using QuickField FEM software. The results show that the electric field and current density would become critical in higher applied voltage and contaminant flow rate. The highest average and highest maximum current density and electric field are found in both applied voltage of 6 kV and contaminant flow rate of 0.90 mlmin<sup>-1</sup>.</p>

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A lottery draw machine-inspired movable air filter with high removal efficiency and low pressure drop at a high flow rate

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c9ta00100j ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (11) ◽

pp. 6001-6011 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Nara Han ◽

Yo Seph Lee ◽

Byung Kwon Kaang ◽

Wooree Jang ◽

Hye Young Koo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Pressure Drop ◽

Electric Field ◽

Removal Efficiency ◽

Flow Rate ◽

Low Pressure ◽

High Flow ◽

High Electric Field ◽

High Flow Rate ◽

Air Filter

A lottery draw machine-inspired novel movable air filter (MAF) system is presented in which MAFs are vigorously moved or rotated to form a high electric field and capture particulate matter (PM) particles.

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Hybrid bipolar membrane electrodialysis/ultrafiltration technology assisted by a pulsed electric field for casein production

Green Chemistry ◽

10.1039/c5gc00970g ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 307-314 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Sergey Mikhaylin ◽

Victor Nikonenko ◽

Gérald Pourcelly ◽

Laurent Bazinet

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Pulsed Electric Field ◽

Precipitation Process ◽

Bipolar Membrane ◽

Membrane Scaling ◽

Bipolar Membrane Electrodialysis

Ecofriendly EDBM-UF-PEF technology demonstrates good performance in the isoelectric casein precipitation process due to elimination of EDBM stack clogging and a decrease in membrane scaling.

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Bipolar membrane polarization behavior with systematically varied interfacial areas in the junction region

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/d0ta10602j ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Subarna Kole ◽

Gokul Venugopalan ◽

Deepra Bhattacharya ◽

Le Zhang ◽

John Cheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electric Field ◽

Water Dissociation ◽

Bipolar Membrane ◽

Junction Region ◽

Bipolar Membranes ◽

Membrane Polarization ◽

Interfacial Areas ◽

Left Image ◽

The Right ◽

The Relationship

Left image is the relationship for the overpotential for water dissociation as a function of bipolar junction electric field whereas the right image presents micrographs and the procedure to make bipolar membranes with micropatterned interfaces.

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