Episode 7: Cleaning Membranes Around the World – Regional Differences Explained

In this episode of ZwitterCo Unfiltered, Jon Goodman is joined by Scott Brown and Leonid Semenihin to answer customer questions about cleaning programs for membrane systems. The team compares how ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and nanofiltration systems are cleaned in North America versus Europe, and discusses why those programs can look so different depending on region, feed stream, and system design. The conversation covers the use of high pH, high temperature (PHT) cleaning in Europe, the shift away from chlorine-based sanitization, and why some European customers are now testing peracetic acid as an alternative to thermal sanitization on larger systems. Jon, Scott, and Leonid also talk through the enzymatic cleaning steps used for plant protein fouling, the role of surfactant type in cleaner selection, and how ZwitterCo Evolution membranes can reduce or eliminate certain steps in a cleaning program due to their anti-fouling properties. What You'll Learn: What temperature and pH limits apply to ZwitterCo Evolution membranes during operation and cleaning How PHT cleaning works in Europe and why chlorine-based sanitization has fallen out of use there Why some customers are moving from thermal sanitization to peracetic acid on complex systems How enzymatic cleaning steps for plant protein fouling can require multiple enzyme types How cleaning programs vary even within the same country based on feed, water hardness, and plant age Where anti-fouling membranes can reduce cleaning time and eliminate certain wash steps entirely