Treatability of Whey Processing Effluent in an Ultrafiltration Pilot Plant using Hydrophilic Polyethersulfone Membrane

Abstract

Treatability study of whey processing effluent was undertaken in a single stage ultrafiltration pilot plant using a commercial hydrophilic polyethersulfone flat sheet membrane. The pure water permeability of the membrane was found to be 1.065 × 10^-7 m³/ (m².s.kPa). The flux of permeation was observed to decrease steadily at all pressures and the maximum flux was recorded to be 10.42 × 10^-6 m³/m²s at 2.94 × 10² kPa after around 15 minutes of operation. The initial and final characteristics of dairy wastewater sample were determined in the form of pH, BOD, COD and TDS at an ambient temperature. The BOD, COD and TDS removal were found to be 44 %, 64% and 38% respectively. The results, thus obtained underscore the importance of ultrafiltration as a supplement to the existing wastewater treatment processes.