Palm oil mill effluent (POME) is a hazardous wastewater which contains high organic constituents and salt concentrations. The ultrafiltration (UF) process is a promising treatment design used for secondary treatment such as POME. However, membrane fouling is the major problem which limits the performance of the UF. This paper describes a detailed investigation of polyvinylidiene fluoride (PVDF) membrane for the treatment of POME. The fouling behavior was analyzed by water flux, fouling mechanism, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), particle size distribution (PSD) and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX). It was found that a significant reduction in the permeate flux was caused by the build up of a fouling layer. Study on the fouling mechanism shows that cake filtration dominated the fouling activities on the membrane surface, compared to standard blocking, intermediate blocking, and complete blocking. This result is supported by membrane autopsy through SEM, PSD and EDX.

中文翻译：

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PVDF膜用于POME处理的过滤分析及污染机理

棕榈油厂废水 (POME) 是一种危险的废水，含有高有机成分和盐浓度。超滤 (UF) 工艺是一种很有前景的处理设计，用于 POME 等二级处理。然而，膜污染是限制超滤性能的主要问题。本文详细介绍了聚偏二氟乙烯 (PVDF) 膜处理 POME 的情况。通过水通量、结垢机制、扫描电子显微镜 (SEM)、粒度分布 (PSD) 和能量色散 X 射线 (EDX) 分析结垢行为。发现渗透通量的显着降低是由结垢层造成的。结垢机理研究表明滤饼过滤主导了膜表面的结垢活动，与标准封闭、中间封闭和完全封闭相比。这一结果得到了通过 SEM、PSD 和 EDX 进行的膜尸检的支持。