1. A few key concepts to understand cleaning

Chemical cleaning is a complex problem to grasp in its entirety, as it is linked to the membrane/treated fluid pairing, to the hydrodynamic conditions of filtration, and to the way in which filtration is carried out, both during production and during cleaning itself. In many cases, industrial "producers" delegate control of this operation to a consortium involving, to a greater or lesser extent, equipment manufacturers, membrane manufacturers and detergent suppliers, in exchange for which the latter guarantee the equipment and membranes... The current situation is that cleaning in place (CIP) is generally carried out empirically, due to a lack of knowledge of the fundamental physico-chemical and hydrodynamic mechanisms, but that this is not an obstacle to full automation of the procedure.

This section provides a brief review of the