The relevance of fouling models to crossflow microfiltration

An overview of models for crossflow microfiltration is presented, and several are compared with experimental pseudo-equilibrium permeate flux values. Models requiring curve fitting procedures do not describe the physics of the process, and require the answer to be known a priori. Predictive models were generally found to give fluxes which were in error by several orders of magnitude. The shear-induced hydrodynamic self-diffusion model was found to give the best predictions of permeate flux, but the errors found when comparing predictions with experimental values suggest that improvements need to be made to the model or that it is not a good description of the mechanisms which actually occur in microfiltration.