Ultrafiltration equipment

Ultrafiltration Equipment Overview Ultrafiltration is a membrane separation technology that purifies, separates, or concentrates solutions. Over the past two decades, it has developed rapidly and become one of the most widely applied membrane separation techniques. Its applications span a broad range of fields, including food and beverage, chemical and electronics industries, bioengineering, and environmental protection. Key uses include: production of pure and ultrapure water; medical-grade sterile and pyrogen-free water systems; purification of beverages, drinking water, and mineral water; industrial separation, concentration, and purification; and treatment of industrial wastewater, electroplating effluents, and oil-containing wastewater. Characteristics The ultrafiltration range is defined by a molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) of approximately 500–500,000, corresponding to an approximate membrane pore size of 0.002–0.1 μm. There is no direct correlation between molecular weight cutoff and pore size. Simply put, an ultrafiltration membrane acts like a sieve: under a certain pressure (0.1–0.6 MPa), it allows solvents and solutes smaller than the pore size to pass through while retaining larger solutes, thereby achieving purification, separation, and concentration of solutions. The ultrafiltration process has the following features: (1) No phase change occurs during ultrafiltration, allowing separation to take place at room temperature and low pressure, resulting in low energy consumption—approximately 1/2 to 1/5 of that required by evaporation or freezing methods. (2) Compact equipment with a simple structure reduces investment costs and facilitates implementation. (3) The separation process involves simple pressurized liquid transport, making the workflow straightforward and easy to operate and manage. (4) Solutions undergo no qualitative changes during separation and concentration, making the method suitable for flavor-preserving and heat-sensitive solutions. (5) Ideal for recovering trace amounts of valuable macromolecules from dilute solutions and concentrating low-concentration macromolecular substances. (6) Capable of fractionating substances based on molecular weight. (7) Ultrafiltration membranes are made from homogeneous polymeric materials, ensuring no release of impurities during operation and maintaining the purity of treated solutions. Given these separation characteristics, ultrafiltration has a wide range of applications, ultimately centered on the purification, separation, and concentration of solutions. Equipment Features This system features a simple structure and user-friendly operation, with compatibility across a pH range of 2–13. It offers processing capacities from 0.2 to 100 tons per hour and a molecular weight cutoff of 6,000–100,000, achieving a retention rate of over 90%. The equipment includes an automatic cleaning and regeneration function, ensuring a long service life and performance comparable to similar international products. It is widely applicable in food and beverage, electronics, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, bioengineering, and other sectors. It can also serve as a pretreatment step for reverse osmosis in desalination and pure water production projects, demonstrating strong potential for broad adoption. Currently, three models of household water purification systems and industrial ultrafiltration units with capacities ranging from 0.2 to 100 tons per hour have been developed.