Effects of hydrophobic silica additives on the structure and performance of PVDF membranes for liquid filtration

Membrane fouling isa main challenge in most pressure driven membrane processes. Improving membrane surface characteristics plays an important role in fouling mitigation efforts. Although hydrophilic additives are often used as effective pore formers, employing hydrophobic additives are also promising as it would greatly affect the formation of the membrane structure during phase inversion. In this study, hydrophobic and hydrophilic silica additives were characterized and the properties of the resulting membranes were analysed. Filtration for membranes loaded with hydrophobic silica was conducted for raw wastewater, secondary effluent, microalgae solution and activated sludge.