A novel technique for the study of cake formation during cross-flow microfiltration of microbial cells

Summary A novel technique involving the measurement of cell concentration changes in the suspension recycle reservoir was used to study cake formation in cross-flow microfiltration. Using this technique, cake formation was found to be enhanced by increasing transmembrane pressure and decreasing cross-flow velocity, and to be more pronounced on a microfiltration membrane than on an ultrafiltration membrane of equal hydraulic resistance. In the case of the microfiltration membrane, it was found that the build-up of cake was not a completely reversible process.