In the past 20 years, China has made a great progress in the field of the membrane, which plays an important role in the water resources, the new energy, the traditional industrial technology transformation and other related fields. In order to accurately evaluate the service life of the membranes to determine the economical and feasible replacement cycle and the postdisposal plan, this paper systematically reviews the internal and external factors, the characterization methods and the performance parameters that affect the membrane aging, and also discusses the membrane performance factors, the chemical/physical properties, the analysis methods and their interrelationships. The inconsistent research results between the laboratory simulation and the actual operation show that in the study of the membrane aging process it is necessary to consider not only the interaction between the membrane material and the chemical cleaning agent, but also the interaction between the membrane and its surface contaminants. Due to the complexity of the membrane aging process, the life cycle analysis is one of the feasible methods to assess the impact of the membrane aging.

water treatment  /  membrane separation  /  membrane ageing  /  membrane cleaning  /  membrane characterization