Ceramic membrane capacity during the filtration of raw rice wine is typically limited by fouling, which can
occur by pore blocking, pore constriction or caking. In this study three modified fouling models were used to
describe flux decline behavior during microfiltration accounting for these three classical fouling mechanisms.
The fouling mechanism was identified by estimation of the model parameter according to a nonlinear
regression optimization procedure. Analysis by the models indicated cake filtration to be the dominant
mechanism and pore constriction to be the secondary fouling mechanism. In the fixed operating conditions
of transmembrane pressure (TMP) and cross-flow velocity (CVF), the fouling mechanism evolves from a pore
constriction to a cake filtration. Membrane fouling was also investigated using Fourier transform infrared
(FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). FTIR analysis revealed that polysaccharides,
long chain protein and some phenolics appear to be primarily responsible for fouling. The main physicochemical
characteristics of rice wine were evaluated in order to select membrane pore size and material that
supply the highest permeation flux and best clarified rice wine.