Cao, HuayuHuayuCaoHabimana, OlivierOlivierHabimanaCorreia-Semião, Andrea Joana C.Andrea Joana C.Correia-SemiãoAllen, AshleyAshleyAllenHeffernan, RoryRoryHeffernanCasey, EoinEoinCasey2015-02-192015-02-192014 Elsev2015-02-01Journal of Membrane Sciencehttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/6360The significance of nanofiltration membrane surface properties when interacting with microbeads with and without permeate flux was investigated. This was achieved by characterising the surface tension and zeta potential of micro-beads and NF90 membranes to determine the colloid–membrane interaction forces. Dynamic adhesion assays under different ionic strengths (0.1 M and 0.01 M) and pH (5, 7, and 9) were conducted. Experimental results showed that at high ionic strength, pH does not have a significant effect on adhesion rates, while at low ionic strength the adhesion rate increased at pH 7 (4.56 s−1 cm−2) compared to pH 5 and pH 9, with rates of 2.69 and 3.66 s−1 cm−2 respectively. A model was devised to predict colloidal adhesion onto membranes under increasing permeate flux conditions, taking into account all interaction forces. Model predictions indicate that drag force overwhelms all other colloid–membrane interaction forces when the permeate flux increases to 7.2 L h−1 m−2. This study suggests that altering membrane surface properties for the prevention of fouling may be limited in its success as an antifouling strategy.enThis is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Membrane Science. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in Journal of Membrane Science (VOL 475, ISSUE 2015, (2015)) DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2014.10.038AdhesionNanofiltrationXDVLOBiofoulingMicrobeadJournal Article47536737510.1016/j.memsci.2014.10.0382015-02-16https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/