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It is known that a key limiting factor to the use of ultrafiltration membranes is that of membrane fouling, which has been a major cause of permeate flux reduction. In this work, the effects of several factors (operating time, protein concentration, temperature and pH, etc.) influencing permeate flux during ultrafiltration of gelatin, casein and bovine serum albumin using a hollow fiber membrane(M. W. 10,000 cut off) reactor have been examined. The permeate flux of gelatin solution was maintained almost constant during the operation up to 6 hours, but those of casein and albumin solutions were decreased to 50% and 43% of initial value after an operation time of 60min. The permeate flux with increasing concentration and temperature of protein solutions increased, but the permeate flux showed a minimum value near the isoelectric point of proteins. The permeate fluxes of protein solution were enhanced by a temperature increase and pH control. Also, it is proposed that fouling can be decreased by the pretreatment of insoluble proteins with enzymes.
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