Effect of Long-Term Sodium Hypochlorite Cleaning on Silicon Carbide Ultrafiltration Membranes Prepared via Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition.

Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) is widely used for the chemical cleaning of fouled ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. Various studies performed on polymeric membranes demonstrate that long-term (>100 h) exposure to NaClO deteriorates the physicochemical properties of the membranes, leading to reduced performance and service life. However, the effect of NaClO cleaning on ceramic membranes, particularly the number of cleaning cycles they can undergo to alleviate irreversible fouling, remains poorly understood.