• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.337-344
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• 2006

Characteristics of flocculent aggregates have great effects on membrane fouling. Floc from kaolin particles gave higher permeate throughputs than floc from natural particles at the same conditions. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to thoroughly analyze characteristics of flocculated aggregates and to investigate effects of flocculated aggregates on membrane fouling. Image analysis, specific rake resistance and cake compressibility were used for characterization of flocs. Different flocculent aggregates formed with natural and kaolin particles were employed in this study. The fractal dimensions from the image analysis were $D_2=1.79{\pm}0.07$ for floc from natural particles and $D_2=1.84{\pm}0.06$ for floc from kaolin particles. The lower fractal dimension($D_2$) of floc from natural particles indicated that the aggregates were more porous and less compact than floe from kaolin particles. In addition, both the specific cake resistances and compressible degrees of flocs from natural particles showed greater values than those of flocs from kaolin particles. The results implied that the porous and loose flocs from natural particles were more easily compressed on membrane surface than the dense and compact flocs from kaolin particles. The compressed flocs yielded the great hydraulic resistances by hindering the water flow through the cake layer.