Types of Ultrafiltration (UF) Membranes
Ultrafiltration membranes can be classified into several types based on different criteria:
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By Material
- Organic Membranes: Made from polymer materials such as cellulose acetate, polyamide, polyethersulfone (PES), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF). These can be further categorized into flat-sheet, tubular, capillary, and hollow-fiber membranes.
- Inorganic Membranes: Primarily ceramic and metal membranes, known for their long lifespan and corrosion resistance but prone to clogging and difficult to clean.
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By Module Type
- Tubular UF Membranes: Suitable for industrial wastewater treatment and solution concentration, featuring large flow channels and resistance to clogging.
- Flat-Sheet UF Membranes: Simple structure, easy to disassemble and reuse.
- Hollow-Fiber UF Membranes: Compact design with a large surface area, widely used in household water purification.
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By Pressure-Driven Configuration
- Outside-In (External Pressure): Feed solution flows from the outside to the inside, ideal for highly contaminated water.
- Inside-Out (Internal Pressure): Feed solution flows from the inside to the outside, suitable for low-turbidity water.
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By Structure
- Asymmetric Membranes: Feature a dense top layer and a porous support layer, used for high-precision separation.
- Symmetric Membranes: Uniform pore distribution, suitable for deep filtration.
ultrafiltration membrane is a sieving process that utilizes membrane (nanometer-level) separation technology. Driven by the pressure difference on both sides of the membrane and with the ultrafiltration membrane as the filtering medium,numerous tiny micropores densely distributed on the surface of the ultrafiltration membrane only allow water, small molecular substances and dissolved solids
to pass through and become the permeate, while substances in the original liquid whose volumes are larger than the micropore diameters on the membrane surface are retained on the inlet side of the membrane and become the concentrated liquid. Thus, the purposes of purifying, separating and concentrating the original liquid are achieved. The filtration precision of ultrafiltration ranges
from 0.002 to 0.1 micrometers, and the molecular weight cut-off is between 1,000 and 100,000.

