The Performance and Fouling Control of Submerged Hollow Fiber (HF) Systems: A Review

The submerged membrane filtration concept is well-established for low-pressure microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) applications in the water industry, and has become a mainstream technology for surface-water treatment, pretreatment prior to reverse osmosis (RO), and membrane bioreactors (MBRs). Compared to submerged flat sheet (FS) membranes, submerged hollow fiber (HF) membranes are more common due to their advantages of higher packing density, the ability to induce movement by mechanisms such as bubbling, and the feasibility of backwashing. In view of the importance of submerged HF processes, this review aims to provide a comprehensive landscape of the current state-of-the-art systems, to serve as a guide for further improvements in submerged HF membranes and their applications. The topics covered include recent developments in submerged hollow fiber membrane systems, the challenges and developments in fouling-control methods, and treatment protocols for membrane permeability recovery. The highlighted research opportunities include optimizing the various means to manipulate the hydrodynamics for fouling mitigation, developing online monitoring devices, and extending the submerged HF concept beyond filtration.