Fully Funded PhD Position in Fouling Control of Water Treatment Membranes through Optimal and Sustainable Cleaning Strategies
Summary of PhD Program:
This PhD project will formulate tailored CiP strategies for membranes in Scottish Water (SW) treatment plants. The overarching goal is twofold: i) to identify the CiP temperature resulting in optimal membrane performance; ii) to identify CiP formulations (or mixtures thereof) suitable for application at ambient feed water temperatures (i.e., in cold water). Considering that CiP at SW membrane plants is often carried out at ambient water temperature (Tamb = 10 °C or lower), we anticipate significant improvements in cleaning efficiency if CiP were carried out at slightly higher temperatures. The cost of CiP operations at above-ambient temperatures will be weighed against the improvement in process performance (stemming from mitigated fouling) by a technoeconomic analysis.
