Ultrafiltration UF equipment is a mature pressure-driven membrane separation device widely applied in industrial raw water purification and industrial wastewater recovery treatment worldwide. As a versatile modular industrial liquid filter with diversified structural forms and filtration precision grades, LEFILIER’s UF product lineup includes high-load concentration-type Concentrated Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment, high-precision two-stage interception Dual Stage Ultrafiltration Equipment, mini skid-mounted Compact Small Scale Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment and factory pre-assembled turnkey Complete Ultrafiltration Equipment to match all kinds of working conditions from small workshops to large industrial sewage stations. This paper comprehensively interprets the overall composition of UF ultrafiltration equipment, cross-flow sieving working mechanism, unified industrial technical parameters, strict factory quality inspection system and multi-industry practical application scenarios, helping global industrial users master UF equipment characteristics to optimize water treatment operation stability and cut long-term system operating costs.
Ultrafiltration UF Equipment for Modern Industrial Water Treatment
Ultrafiltration UF equipment is a mature pressure-driven membrane separation device widely applied in industrial raw water purification and industrial wastewater recovery treatment worldwide. As a versatile modular industrial liquid filter with diversified structural forms and filtration precision grades, LEFILIER’s UF product lineup includes high-load concentration-type Concentrated Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment, high-precision two-stage interception Dual Stage Ultrafiltration Equipment, mini skid-mounted Compact Small Scale Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment and factory pre-assembled turnkey Complete Ultrafiltration Equipment to match all kinds of working conditions from small workshops to large industrial sewage stations. This paper comprehensively interprets the overall composition of UF ultrafiltration equipment, cross-flow sieving working mechanism, unified industrial technical parameters, strict factory quality inspection system and multi-industry practical application scenarios, helping global industrial users master UF equipment characteristics to optimize water treatment operation stability and cut long-term system operating costs.
Ultrafiltration (abbreviated as UF) is located between microfiltration and nanofiltration in the membrane separation spectrum. UF equipment takes ultrafiltration membrane elements as the core functional medium, matched with feed pumps, backwash pipeline assemblies, chemical CIP cleaning units, pressure monitoring components and PLC intelligent control cabinet, forming a complete physical impurity removal system without adding a large number of chemical reagents. Physical interception can effectively trap suspended solids, colloids, bacteria, viruses and macromolecular organic substances in water while retaining beneficial mineral ions in water body, which is the most mainstream pretreatment device for reverse osmosis pure water preparation systems at present.
LEFILIER’s serialized UF ultrafiltration equipment covers differentiated products for different customer demands. For wastewater concentration, effective component recovery and solid-liquid separation projects with high organic pollution load, customers can select Concentrated Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment, which optimizes the internal runner of the membrane element to enhance anti-fouling ability and adapt to long-term high-concentration pollutant operation. For pharmaceutical injection water, electronic ultrapure water and high-grade beverage production water with extremely strict outlet water indicators, Dual Stage Ultrafiltration Equipment adopts primary coarse filtration + secondary fine filtration graded treatment mode to reduce the pollution load of the secondary membrane group and improve the stability of produced water quality. For laboratory water supply, small food processing workshops and mobile temporary water supply devices with low water consumption, the compact integrated Compact Small Scale Ultrafiltration Membrane Equipment has the advantages of small floor space and fast on-site installation and commissioning. For new construction and upgrading of overall water stations in large factories, the whole machine assembled and debugged in the factory Complete Ultrafiltration Equipment can realize one-stop delivery and effectively shorten the project construction cycle.
The frame of all UF ultrafiltration equipment adopts 304 stainless steel as standard configuration, and modified PVDF is used as the mainstream membrane material with excellent acid and alkali resistance and oxidation resistance. The built-in PLC system supports dual-trigger automatic backwashing of timing + pressure difference, automatically flushes pollutants attached to the membrane surface, and the reserved chemical cleaning interface can regularly eliminate scale and biological film to restore the initial water production flux of the membrane element. In actual technological layout, UF equipment is mostly arranged at the front end of RO reverse osmosis systems, stably controlling the SDI value of influent water below 3 to avoid frequent fouling and blockage of reverse osmosis membranes.
The core working principle of all UF ultrafiltration equipment is pressure-driven cross-flow physical sieving separation. After raw water is pressurized by the feed pump to a stable operating pressure of 1.0 bar ~ 4.0 bar, the fluid flows tangentially along the outer surface of the hollow fiber membrane filament or the surface of the roll membrane sheet at a fixed flow rate.
Under the action of pressure difference on both sides of the membrane wall, water molecules and small-molecule inorganic salts pass through the tiny membrane pores to form qualified permeate clean water, which is collected and transported to the clean water tank through the produced water pipeline. Pollutants whose molecular weight or particle size is larger than the membrane MWCO are intercepted on the membrane outer surface. The high-speed cross-flow water continuously scours the membrane surface, and most intercepted dirt is discharged out of the equipment along with the concentrated water flow, slowing down the accumulation speed of pollutants and preventing the filter cake layer from blocking the membrane pores.
Two independent maintenance mechanisms are preset in the control program of UF equipment. First is automatic backwashing: the produced clean water reversely penetrates the membrane pores from the water production side to wash away loose dirt on the membrane surface, and the whole process is automatically operated without manual intervention. Second is periodic CIP chemical cleaning: alkaline cleaning solution decomposes organic biological pollutants, and acidic cleaning solution removes inorganic scale when the overall water production flux of the system decays obviously. For the concentrated UF equipment facing severe pollution working conditions, the system will be equipped with an enhanced cleaning program to prolong the service life of membrane components.
Main membrane material: Modified industrial PVDF; food-grade PES optional for pharmaceutical & beverage industries
Optional MWCO grades: 30 kDa, 50 kDa, 100 kDa
Effective membrane pore diameter range: 0.01 μm ~ 0.1 μm
Allowable continuous operating temperature: 5℃ ~ 45℃
pH tolerance range: Continuous operation pH 2–11; short cleaning tolerance pH 1–13
Design operating flux: 20 ~ 85 LMH (low flux design for high-pollution raw water)
Optimal stable working pressure: 1.5 bar ~ 3.0 bar
Comprehensive water recovery rate of the whole system: 82% ~ 93%
Effluent turbidity index: Permanently lower than 0.1 NTU
Bacteria and coliform interception efficiency: ≥99.99%
Outlet water SDI value ≤3, fully meets the inlet water standard of reverse osmosis equipment
Frame material: Standard 304 stainless steel, 316L stainless steel customized for corrosive wastewater
Control system: PLC + touch screen automatic control, with fault alarm and operation data recording function
Adjustable automatic backwash cycle: 15 minutes ~ 60 minutes
Recommended chemical cleaning cycle: 2 ~ 6 months
Customizable water production tonnage: Full specifications from 0.3T/h to 200T/h
All UF ultrafiltration equipment manufactured by LEFILIER implements full-process closed-loop quality management from raw material inspection, membrane element production, mechanical processing to finished machine assembly and factory delivery test. Each batch of UF membrane elements must pass 100% bubble point integrity test to screen out defective products such as fiber breakage and membrane leakage, ensuring stable interception performance of each membrane module. Stainless steel frame welding adopts precision argon arc welding technology, and all water-wetted accessories are harmless anti-corrosion materials to avoid secondary pollution to purified water quality.
Before delivery of each set of finished UF equipment, FAT factory acceptance test must be completed by simulating actual water inflow working conditions to verify water yield stability, pressure difference change law, valve action sensitivity and automatic program execution logic, and goods can be delivered with complete quality inspection reports only after all test items are qualified.
Our UF ultrafiltration equipment has obtained ISO9001 quality system certification, CE EU safety certification and NSF61 drinking water material safety certification. Under standardized operation and regular maintenance, the service life of PVDF hollow fiber membrane is 5–8 years, and tubular membrane can reach 6–8 years. We provide long-term global supply of original spare parts and free remote technical guidance for all customers purchasing our UF equipment.
With stable physical interception performance and low operating cost, UF ultrafiltration equipment is widely used in various industrial water treatment scenarios worldwide:
Factory pure water pretreatment: Remove colloids and microorganisms to protect downstream reverse osmosis membrane components
Industrial wastewater recycling: Tertiary advanced treatment of biochemical wastewater for workshop flushing, cooling water replenishment and landscape irrigation
Municipal surface water purification: Purify river water and reservoir raw water to prepare factory self-supplied production and domestic water
Food and beverage processing water treatment: Purify brewing, dairy and fruit juice process water to remove microorganisms while retaining natural nutrients
Pharmaceutical purified water preparation: Remove pyrogen and endotoxin as the core filtering unit of pharmaceutical production water system
Electroplating, printing and dyeing wastewater treatment: Cooperate with concentrated UF equipment to separate oily pollutants to realize standard discharge and water reuse of wastewater
Q1: What is the essential difference between UF ultrafiltration equipment and RO reverse osmosis equipment?
A: UF ultrafiltration intercepts macromolecules, colloids and bacteria, cannot remove dissolved salt ions; reverse osmosis can intercept water-soluble salt ions to realize desalination treatment. UF is mostly used for pretreatment, and RO is used for deep desalination and ultrapure water preparation.
Q2: Can UF ultrafiltration equipment reduce the TDS value of water?
A: UF equipment cannot remove dissolved salt ions, so the TDS value of water will not change obviously after treatment. If desalination is required, UF must be matched with RO reverse osmosis equipment for combined use.
Q3: How long is the service life of the PVDF membrane inside UF ultrafiltration equipment?
A: With normal automatic backwashing and regular chemical cleaning maintenance, the service life of conventional PVDF hollow fiber UF membrane is 5 to 8 years.
Q4: What problems will occur if the UF equipment runs without backwashing for a long time?
A: Pollutants will continuously deposit on the membrane surface to form a dense filter cake layer, resulting in rapid attenuation of equipment water output flux, and long-term irreversible pollution will lead to permanent scrapping of membrane elements.
Q5: Is the control program of dual-stage UF ultrafiltration equipment different from ordinary single-stage UF equipment?
A: Yes. The primary membrane of dual-stage UF bears heavy pollution load, and the system will set a shorter backwash cycle; the secondary fine filter membrane has low pollution load with a longer maintenance cycle, and the two groups of membranes operate with independent control logic.
Q6: What pretreatment devices need to be configured at the water inlet of UF ultrafiltration equipment?
A: It is necessary to configure multi-media filter + 5μm security filter at the front end to intercept large particle impurities such as silt and rust slag, preventing hard particles from scratching the membrane surface and causing membrane filament breakage.
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