ABSTRACT
Despite their growing usage, all membrane separation processes suffer from operational challenges in the form of fouling and related phenomena. These challenges cause a decline in performance over time and can lead to increased operational costs. An insight into fouling behavior, types, and mechanisms is crucial to devising efficient strategies for fouling control. In this chapter, we analyze challenges related to fouling in high pressure filtration and low pressure filtration, as well as emerging techniques such as membrane distillation. We look at common membrane fouling mechanisms used in the literature to predict fouling. We also consider the case of the Tampa Bay seawater reverse osmosis plant, where poorly controlled fouling had detrimental financial, environmental, and technological impacts.
