The utilization of membrane processes in Environmental Engineering has expanded significantly in the last few years. This paper had the primary objective of defining an optimization technique for ultrafiltration (UF) membrane operation by studying UF membrane operation and backwashing cycles. The main importance of UF operation optimization is to maximize permeation production as a function of time. Experimental tests were conducted with two UF membranes with different molecular weight cutoff. The experimental results led to the proposition of a mathematical model for the optimization of UF systems; such optimization conducted in practice to an increase of 14% in the permeate volume production.
membrane processes; ultrafiltration; mathematical modeling; water reuse
