The main difference between microfiltration ultrafiltration and nanofiltration is that microfiltration uses a pore size of 0.1 microns filters, and ultrafiltration uses a pore size of 0.01 microns, whereas nanofiltration uses a pore size of 0.001 microns.
In brief, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration are three types of water filtration methods. Water filtration involves moving water through the tiny pores of a filter.
Key Areas Covered
- What is Microfiltration
- Definition, Characteristics, Importance
- What is Ultrafiltration
- Definition, Characteristics, Importance
- What is Nanofiltration
- Definition, Characteristics, Importance
- Similarities Between Microfiltration Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration
- Outline of Common Features
- Difference Between Microfiltration Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration
- Comparison with Key Differences
Key Terms
Microfiltration, Nanofiltration, Ultrafiltration
What is Microfiltration
Microfiltration is a type of water filtration method that filters water through filters with small pore sizes. The pore size of microfiltration is 0.1 microns. Microfiltration removes protozoa with high effectiveness and removes bacteria with moderate effectiveness. However, it cannot remove viruses and chemicals. More importantly, microfiltration removes the suspended solid in water. Moreover, microfiltration is used in combination with other filtration methods, such as ultrafiltration or reverse osmosis.
Figure 1: Microfiltration
Furthermore, microfiltration is important in pre-treatment for other water treatment processes, certain types of effluent treatment, certain oil and water separation applications, treating wastewater, sterilizing beverages and pharmaceuticals without sacrificing flavor, and processing dairy products while allowing proteins to pass through the membrane.
What is Ultrafiltration
Ultrafiltration is another method of water treatment that uses filters with smaller pore sizes. Here, the pore size of the filters in ultrafiltration is 0.01 microns. It can remove protozoa and bacteria with high effectiveness. They remove viruses with moderate effectiveness, while they remove chemicals with low effectiveness. Both multivalent and monovalent ions can pass through the filter. However, ultrafiltration requires high pressure to remove viruses.
Figure 2: Ultrafiltration
Moreover, ultrafiltration is important in treating wastewater, concentrating proteins, chemical process separation, separating oil/water emulsions, removing pathogens from milk, and clarifying fruit juices.
What is Nanofiltration
Nanofiltration is the water filtration method that uses the smallest pore size among other filtration methods. Therefore, the pore size of the filter in nanofiltration is 0.001 microns. Nanofiltration can remove protozoa, bacteria, and viruses with high effectiveness due to this smallest pore size. Nanofiltration can also remove the chemicals with moderate effectiveness. Therefore, nanofiltration can remove around 50-90% monovalent ions, including chloride and sodium. It requires low pressure to filter these substances.
Figure 3: Nanofiltration
Other than that, nanofiltration is important in water treatment, pre-treatment for reverse osmosis, filtering pharmaceuticals, textiles, bakeries, and in the dairy industry.
Similarities Between Microfiltration Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration
- Microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration are three methods of water filtration.
- They help in the filtration of water through filters with small pore sizes.
- Moreover, in these methods, substances can filter out from the water depending on the size of the pores in the filter.
Difference Between Microfiltration Ultrafiltration and Nanofiltration
Definition
Microfiltration refers to a type of filtration physical process where a contaminated fluid is passed through a special pore-sized membrane to separate microorganisms and suspended particles from the process liquid; ultrafiltration refers to filtration using a medium-fine enough to retain colloidal particles, viruses, or large molecules, while nanofiltration refers to a membrane filtration process used most often to soften and disinfect water.
Pore Size
Usually, microfiltration uses a pore size of 0.1 microns filters, ultrafiltration uses a pore size of 0.01 microns, whereas nanofiltration uses a pore size of 0.001 microns.
Removing Substances in High Effectiveness
Microfiltration removes protozoa, and ultrafiltration removes protozoa and bacteria, while nanofiltration removes protozoa, bacteria, and viruses with high effectiveness.
Removing Substances in Moderate Effectiveness
Microfiltration removes bacteria, ultrafiltration removes viruses, and nanofiltration removes chemicals with moderate effectiveness.
Pressure
Microfiltration requires pressure to filter, ultrafiltration requires high pressure, while nanofiltration requires low pressure to filter.
Conclusion
In brief, microfiltration, ultrafiltration, and nanofiltration are three types of filtration methods for liquids. However, the main difference between microfiltration ultrafiltration and nanofiltration is the pore size of the filter. Generally, microfiltration requires a spore size of 0.1 microns, and it filters away bacteria and protozoa. Ultrafiltration requires a 0.01-micron filter to filter out viruses at high pressure. Nanofiltration, on the other hand, requires a filter with a pore size of 0.001 microns and removes chemicals from water.
References:
- Microfiltration. An overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- Ultrafiltration. An overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2022.
- Nanofiltration. An overview | ScienceDirect Topics. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2022.
Image Courtesy:
- “Overall setup for the Microfiltration system” By Jeraz Cooper/Enrico Martini – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
- “Ultrafiltration Grundmühle” By W.E.T. GmbH – Own Work (Attribution) via Commons Wikimedia
- “Nano-Filter-Eupen” By Frinck51 – Own Work (CC BY 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
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