Hydrodynamic modeling of NOM transport in UF: effects of charge density and ionic strength on effective size and sieving.

The transport behavior of natural organic matter (NOM) across polyethersulfone (PES) UF membranes having a range of nominal molecularweight cutoffs (MWCOs) was investigated and described with a hydrodynamic transport model. Transport of whole NOM and NOM fractionated on an anion exchange resin (IRA 958) was measured to investigate the impact of NOM size and charge density. It was found that the dominant transport mechanism, characterized by the membrane Peclet number, depended on the membrane MWCO, and transitioned from diffusion to convection at a MWCO of about 10 kDa. Increasing ionic strength significantly decreased the effective solute radius and decreased the observed rejection of charged NOM fractions, whereas no significant change was seen for neutral fractions. Using an available theoretical model for partitioning of charged solutes, the effect of ionic strength on the electrical double layer thickness can account for the observed changes in effective solute radius. These results provide insight into the role of solute charge and electrostatic interactions in NOM transport behavior.