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Lymington

Lymington is a port town on the west bank of the Lymington River on the Solent, in the New Forest district of Hampshire, England.

The town faces Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to which there is a car ferry service operated by Wightlink. It is within the civil parish of Lymington and Pennington. The town has a large tourist industry, based on proximity to the New Forest and its harbour. It is a major yachting centre with three marinas. As of 2015, the parish of Lymington and Pennington had a population of 15,726.

History

The earliest settlement in the Lymington area was around the Iron Age hill fort known today as Buckland Rings. The hill and ditches of the fort survive, and archaeological excavation of part of the walls was carried out in 1935. The fort has been dated to around the 6th century BC. There is another supposed Iron Age site at nearby Ampress Hole. However, evidence of later settlement there (as opposed to occupation) is sparse before Domesday (1086).

Lymington itself began as an Anglo-Saxon village. The Jutes arrived in the area from the Isle of Wight in the 6th century and founded a settlement called Limentun. The Old English word tun means a farm or hamlet whilst limen is derived from the Ancient British word *lemanos meaning an elm tree.

The town is recorded in Domesday as Lentune. About 1200, the lord of the manor, William de Redvers created the borough of New Lymington around the present quay and High Street, while Old Lymington comprised the rest of the parish. He gave the town its first charter and the right to hold a market. The town became a parliamentary borough in 1585, returning two MPs until 1832, when its electoral base was expanded. Its representation was reduced to one member under the Second Reform Act of 1867, and it was subsumed into the New Forest Division under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.

Lymington was famous for salt-making from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century. There was an almost continuous belt of salt workings along the coast toward Hurst Spit.

In the 18th and early 19th centuries, Lymington possessed a military depot that included a number of foreign troops – mostly artillery but also several militia regiments. At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the King's German Artillery was based near Portchester Castle and sent sick soldiers to Lymington or Eling Hospital. As well as Germans and Dutch, there were French émigrés and French regiments. They were raised to take part in the ill-fated Quiberon Invasion of France, from which few returned (contrast the Battle of Quiberon Bay, or Bataille des Cardinaux, a 1759 victory).

From the early 19th century, Lymington had a thriving shipbuilding industry, particularly associated with Thomas Inman, builder of the schooner Alarm, which famously raced the American yacht America in 1851. Much of the town centre is Victorian and Georgian, with narrow cobbled streets in the area of the quay. In 1859 the Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Mercy and Saint Joseph was built to a design by Joseph Hansom.

Lymington particularly promotes stories about its smuggling. There are unproven stories of smugglers' tunnels running from the old inns and under the High Street to the town quay.

Lymington was among the boroughs reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. In 1932 it was extended to include Milton (previously an urban district), the parishes of Milford on Sea and Pennington, and parts of Lymington Rural District, so extending it along the coast to the edge of Christchurch.

The borough of Lymington was abolished on 1 April 1974 under the terms of the Local Government Act 1972, becoming an unparished area in the district of New Forest, with Charter Trustees. The area was subsequently divided into the four parishes of New Milton, Lymington and Pennington, Milford-on-Sea and Hordle. A new library was added in 2002.

Lymington today
Due to changes in planning legislation, many older areas of the town have been redeveloped. Houses have been demolished and replaced with blocks of flats and retirement homes. In a Channel 5 programme, Lymington received the accolade of "best town on the coast" in the UK for living (ahead of Sandbanks), for scenery, transport links and low crime levels.

Lymington New Forest Hospital opened in 2007, replacing the earlier Lymington Hospital. This has a minor injuries unit but no accident and emergency facility. The nearest are at Southampton General Hospital, 16 mi away, and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, 14.5 mi away.

The main Anglican parish church is St Thomas's in the High Street. Lymington Town Hall, in Avenue Road, was opened in 1966.

Neighbourhoods
The northern neighbourhoods of the town are Buckland and Lower Buckland, the latter adjoining the Lymington River. However, to avoid confusion with Buckland, Portsmouth, also in Hampshire, many people refer to themselves and their businesses here solely as Lymington. The poet Caroline Anne Bowles (1786–1854) was born at Buckland Manor and died at Buckland Cottage.

Pennington is a village near Lymington, but is separated from the town by several schools with playing fields. Upper Pennington is a northern residential offshoot of Pennington, more rural in character, almost entirely surrounded by heath and farmland.

Lymington yacht basin and mudflats make up the former docks area known as Waterford.

Lower Pennington and Woodside lie adjacent to Woodside Park, a 20 ha public park bequeathed to the people of Lymington in 1925 by Colonel Henry Douglas Rooke. The park includes formal gardens, a playground, a cricket ground and a sports field. The neighbourhood consists of a small southern triangle of residential and rural lanes, which include a manor house, church community hall, and All Saints' Church, Lymington. The church was built in 1909 by W. H. Romaine-Walker, architect of Danesfield House, Moreton Hall, Warwickshire, and the Tate Gallery extension, and a student of the High Victorian architect George Edmund Street.

Normandy is a coastal hamlet by a very small dock, salterns and estuary. It includes the buildings Normandy Garth, Little Normandy and Normandy Farm. The last backs onto De La Warr House, an early 19th-century listed building.

Shopping
The high street has seen rapid change over the last few years, with an increasing presence of chain stores and coffee-shop franchises. There is a local market, one of the New Forest producers' markets, held at the Masonic hall once a month in the game season. There are several marine outfitters in the cobbled street leading down to the quay.

Lymington has a wide range of shops and a large street market in the High Street, as well as three supermarkets: Waitrose, a small Tesco in the High Street, and a Marks and Spencer Food Hall. Local campaigns resulted in the rejection of proposals for the opening of branches of the Argos retail outlet, and in 2010 of the J D Wetherspoon pub chain. However, a second proposal by Wetherspoons in 2012 was successful and a pub named The Six Bells opened in 2013.

Climate
Lymington, like the rest of the South of England, has a maritime climate of warm summers and mild winters. The nearest official Met office weather station for which online records are available is Everton, about 2 miles to the west of the town centre. Thanks to its coastal position, sunshine levels are high relative to the rest of Britain, and severe frost unusual. The coldest recorded temperature in 43 years of records was -11.1 C in January 1963. The highest locally recorded temperature was 33.5 C in June 1976.

Sports and leisure
The town's leisure amenities include several parks, a nine-hole golf course, a rowing club, a community centre, a library, St Barbe Museum and Art Gallery, two swimming pools (one the Lymington Open Air Sea Water Baths built in 1833), a sports centre, a small cinema/theatre, a Skatepark (for skateboards), several tennis courts, and some youth football pitches. There is also a pétanque terrain near St Thomas's church. Lymington Cricket Club was established in 1807 and plays in the Southern Premier and Hampshire Cricket leagues.

The proximity of the New Forest makes Lymington a popular base for walking, cycling and riding.

Sailing
Lymington is famous for its sailing history, and in recent years has been home to the world-famous regattas such as the Royal Lymington Cup, Etchells Worlds, Macnamara's Bowl, and Source Regatta. The strong tides make it a challenging race track, and together with the shallow depth of the river has resulted in Lymington losing several regattas to the Central Solent, principally run from Cowes. Nevertheless, Thursday Evening Racing takes place with up to 100 boats registered to race every Thursday night during the summer, hosted by the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. Started in the 1990s, this has become increasingly popular.

There are two active sailing clubs in the town. The Royal Lymington Yacht Club, founded in the 1920s as Lymington River Sailing Club, has over 3,000 members and runs major keelboat and dinghy events. The Lymington Town Sailing Club, founded in 1946, hosts a popular Lymington Winter Series known as the Solent Circuit.

Football
Lymington has a non-League football club, Lymington Town F.C., which plays at the sports ground. The children's football club, Lymington Sprites, is based in nearby Pennington.

Cricket
Lymington Cricket Club is an amateur cricket club that plays at the Sports Ground. The Third and Fourth XI play their home matches at Woodside Park. The club's first team compete in the Southern Premier Cricket League, which is the highest level of club cricket in Hampshire.

Rugby union
Lymington has a rugby union club, Lymington Mariners RFC, whose two teams play at Woodside Park. It meets every Thursday evening for practice and most Saturday afternoons for tournament games in the Hampshire region, and friendlies around the South of England.

Media
Local news and television programmes are provided by BBC South and ITV Meridian. Television signals are received from the Rowridge TV transmitter.

Local radio stations are BBC Radio Solent on 96.1 FM, Heart South on 96.7 FM, Capital South on 103.2 FM, Easy Radio South Coast on 107.8 FM, Nation Radio South Coast on 106.0 FM and New Forest Hospital Radio, that broadcast local programming to patients from the New Forest Hospital in the town.

The Lymington Times and New Milton Advertiser is the town's local newspaper.

Buses
Lymington bus depot is owned by Go South Coast. Numerous local services operate, as do routes to Bournemouth and Southampton. In the summer, the New Forest Tour serves the town with open-top buses.

Rail
Lymington's two railway stations – Lymington Pier (the terminus), on the east side of the river near the ferry terminal, and Lymington Town – are connected to the national rail network by a branch line to Brockenhurst. Services twice an hour are operated by South Western Railway.

Roads
The A337 road links Lymington to Lyndhurst and the M27 motorway to the north, and to New Milton and the South East Dorset conurbation to the west.

Ferries
Ferries have run between Lymington and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, since the 19th century. Since 1990 they have been operated by Wightlink, succeeding the nationalised Sealink on the route. The current fleet comprises three car ferries, which entered service in 2009: Wight Light, Wight Sky and Wight Sun. The service runs about once an hour from a dock south-east of the old town on the far side of the Lymington River.

In fiction and on screen
Lymington features in The Children of the New Forest by Captain Marryat, in the historical novels of the local writer Warwick Collins (The Rationalist and The Marriage of Souls), and in The Forest by Edward Rutherfurd.

In Tom Clancy's Patriot Games, a Wightlink ferry heading from the Lymington ferry terminal is intercepted and a prisoner extracted in heavy seas. Several men on board the ferry are murdered.

The 1980 Christmas special of the ITV children's show Worzel Gummidge was filmed in the town during the summer of that year. During filming a sudden wind blew the titanium dioxide that was being used as a replica of snow into homes, shops and businesses, causing damage and a large compensation bill for the producers, Southern Television.

Lymington was occasionally featured in the 1980s BBC series Howards' Way.

Twin towns
An active programme of exchange visits is coordinated by the local Twinning Association.
 * Flag of France.svg Vitré (France)
 * Flag of Germany.svg Mosbach (Germany)
 * Flag of Spain.svg Almansa (Spain)

title: Lymington


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Loughton

Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex, within the metropolitan and urban area of London, England. Situated 12 mi north-east of Charing Cross, the town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill.

The parish of Loughton covers part of Epping Forest, in 1996 some parts of the south of the old parish were transferred to Buckhurst Hill parish, and other small portions to Chigwell and Theydon Bois. It is the most populous civil parish in the Epping Forest district, and within Essex it is the second most populous civil parish (after Canvey Island) and the second largest in the area. At the 2021 census, it had a population of 33,353.

Loughton has three conservation areas and there are 56 listed buildings in the town, together with a further 50 that are locally listed.

History
The earliest structure in Loughton is Loughton Camp, an Iron Age earth fort in Epping Forest dating from around 500 BC. Hidden by dense undergrowth for centuries, it was rediscovered in 1872.

The first references to the site of modern-day Loughton date from the Anglo-Saxon period when it was known as Lukintune ("the farm of Luhha"). The earliest written evidence of this settlement is in the charter of Edward the Confessor in 1062 which granted various estates, including Tippedene (Debden) and Alwartune (Alderton Hall, in Loughton), to Harold Godwinson (later King Harold II) following his re-founding of Waltham Abbey. Following the Norman conquest, the town is also mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086, with the name Lochintuna. The settlement remained a small village until the early 17th century when the high road was extended north through the forest. The road quickly became the main route from London to Cambridge and East Anglia, and Loughton grew into an important stop with coaching inns. The most significant of the great houses of this period, built as country retreats for wealthy City merchants and courtiers, was Loughton Hall, owned by Mary Tudor two months before she became Queen Mary of England in 1553, and later by the Wroth family from 1578 to 1738. Sir Robert Wroth (c. 1576 – 1614) and his wife Lady Mary Wroth (1587 – c. 1652) entertained many of the great literary figures of the time, including Ben Jonson, at the house. It was rebuilt in 1878 by Revd. J. W. Maitland, whose family held the manor for much of the 19th century. It is now a Veecare Homes care home and is a grade II listed building.

Loughton's growth since Domesday has largely been at the expense of the forest. Expansion towards the River Roding was arrested owing to the often flooding marshy meadows, encroachments into the forest to the north and west of the village were nevertheless possible. Loughton landlords and villagers both exploited the forest waste (open spaces and scrub of the forest), but the trickle of forest destruction threatened to turn into a flood in the 19th century after royalty had lost interest in protecting the woodland as a hunting reserve. As the forest disappeared and landowners began enclosing more of it for private use, many began to express concern at the loss of such a significant natural resource and common land. Some Loughton villagers defied landowners to practice their ancient right to lop wood—a series of court cases, including one brought by the Loughton labourer Thomas Willingale, was needed before the City of London Corporation took legal action against the landowners' enclosures, resulting in the Epping Forest Act of 1878 which preserved the forest for use by the public.

The arrival of the railway spurred on the town's development. The railway first came to Loughton in 1856 when the Eastern Counties Railway (later the Great Eastern Railway) opened a branch line via Woodford. In 1948 the line was electrified and transferred to London Transport to become part of the Central line on the London Underground. The arrival of the railway also provided visitors from London with a convenient means of reaching Epping Forest and thus transforming it into the "East Enders' Playground". The Ragged School Union began organising visits to the forest for parties of poor East End children in 1891 paid for by the Pearsons Fresh Air Fund. Loughton artist Octavius Dixie Deacon depicted many scenes of the town including some of its residents during the late Victorian period.

As the Great Eastern Railway Company did not offer workmen's fares, the town's development was of a middle-class character. Much of the housing in Loughton was built in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, with significant expansion in the 1930s. Loughton was a fashionable place for artistic and scientific residents in Victorian and Edwardian times, and a number of prominent residents were renowned socialists, nonconformists, and social reformers. In the north-east is a post-war development being one of the London County Council's country estates, built with the express purpose of co-locating industrial, retail and residential properties to facilitate supported re-location of London families affected by war damage within the capital.

Located within Debden's industrial estate is the former printing works of the Bank of England; in 1993 the printing works were taken over by De La Rue on their winning the contract to print the banknotes. The headquarters of greeting card company Clinton Cards and construction firm Higgins Group are also located within the Debden Industrial Estate. In 2008, electronics firm Amshold announced their intention to move the group's headquarters to Loughton from Brentwood. They moved to a site in Langston Road; in 2012, their property company Amsprop converted a headquarters building next to the Town Council offices in Rectory Lane.

In 2002 Loughton featured in the ITV1 programme Essex Wives, a documentary series about the lives of some of the nouveau riche who have resided in the Essex satellite towns of London since the 1980s. The series propelled Jodie Marsh, one of its featured characters, to fame. Journalists' use of the term "golden triangle" to describe the towns of Loughton, Buckhurst Hill and Chigwell for their propensity to attract wealthy footballers, soap-opera actors and TV celebrities as residents derives from this. The town has been used as a backdrop in other television series, notably The Only Way is Essex, and two shops in the High Road are associated with members of its cast.

Geography
Loughton is bounded by Epping Forest to the west and the Roding river valley to the east. After the Epping Forest Act of 1878 prohibited any further expansion of the town into the forest, the forest and the river have formed two natural barriers constraining any expansion westwards or eastwards, and consequently most of the growth in the last 100 years has been through infilling and construction of new housing estates to the north and south of the old town centre, plus the purpose-built suburb of Debden to the north-east. The Roding valley is somewhat marshy and the river is prone to flooding, so construction close to the river is very limited and the majority of the land around it has been designated as a nature reserve or left as open space parkland. The M11 motorway that follows the course of the Roding along this section of its length is built on raised banks or flyovers, to avoid potential problems with flooding. The highest parts of the town are the roads that border the forest's edge; from the green outside the Gardeners Arms pub near the junction of York Hill, Pump Hill and Baldwins Hill there are views of London, south-west Essex, Kent and Surrey. From here, on a clear day, there is a panoramic view of London landmarks and the North Downs beyond. There are numerous other fine views from different parts of the town, including one roughly at the junction of Traps Hill, Borders Lane, Alderton Hill and Spareleaze Hill, and another on Spring Grove and Hillcrest Road. In the valley between these two hills flows Loughton Brook, which rises in Epping Forest near Waltham Abbey and flows through the forest and Baldwins and Staples Ponds before traversing the town and emptying into the Roding.

There are several distinctive neighbourhoods in Loughton mostly identifiable by the building types incorporated during their development:

 * Old Loughton refers to the original settlement which grew up around Loughton High Road.
 * Debden occupies about 650 acres/225 hectares to the north east of Loughton; London County Council built the woodland development between 1947 and 1952 out of county to rehouse people from London whose homes had been destroyed or damaged during the Second World War. The largest open space in Debden is Jessel Green, an open hillside towards its centre, deliberately planned as a central open resource by the LCC.
 * Debden Green is a hamlet set around an ancient green in the north-east corner of the parish. Debden House in Debden Green is an adult learning and conference centre run by the London Borough of Newham; the grounds include a campsite.
 * Goldings Manor is a modern estate of mostly large detached houses built in the grounds of 'Goldings Manor', a large mansion demolished after being hit during the Blitz. It comprises four residential streets; Broadstrood, Campions, Garden Way and Stanmore Way.
 * Great Woodcote Park is a modern housing estate at the southern end of Loughton, built on the site of the former North Farm.
 * Little Cornwall is a hilly area of north-west Loughton closest to Epping Forest characterised by steep hills, weatherboarded houses, narrow lanes and high holly hedges.
 * Roding Estate or South Loughton is the area south-east of the London Underground Central line and was mostly built up between the First World War and Second World War.

Between 1839 and 31 March 2000 policing and crime prevention was provided by the Metropolitan Police. From 1 April 2000 responsibilities were transferred to the Essex Police following the creation of the Greater London Authority. Telephone numbers in the town have the London (020) area code.

Demography
At the 2021 census, Loughton had a population of 33,353, an increase from 31,106 in 2011.

The 2021 census showed that 73.5% of the town's population identified as White British. In 2016, Loughton was assessed by the Policy Exchange as the third best ethnically integrated town in the country.

Politics
Loughton Urban District Council, established in 1900 was based at Lopping Hall. The area became part of Chigwell Urban District in 1933 and remained as such until 1974, when Epping Forest District Council was created. Loughton Town Council was established in 1996. The Town Council consists of 22 councillors representing 7 wards, elected for a four-year term. The Town Council started off in temporary accommodation, but in 2000 moved to offices on the newly constructed Buckingham Court in Rectory Lane. In 2017, the council moved to the newly redesignated Loughton Library and Town Hall in the town centre.

At district council level, Loughton is represented by two councillors from each of the 7 wards, elected for a four-year term. At county council level, Loughton is split between three divisions, Buckhurst Hill & Loughton South, Chigwell & Loughton Broadway, and Loughton Central, each returning one councillor elected for a four-year term.

Loughton has been part of the Epping Forest parliamentary constituency since its creation in 1974.

Drama
Loughton is home to the East 15 Acting School. East 15 grew from the work of Joan Littlewood's famed Theatre Workshop. Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop was based in Stratford, London, whose postal district is E15. The School, which became part of the University of Essex in 2000, includes the Corbett Theatre in its campus. Regular productions are staged at the theatre, which was named after Harry H. Corbett (1925–1982), himself a Theatre Workshop member and benefactor of East 15. The theatre building is actually a converted medieval flint barn from Ditchling, Sussex which was dismantled and rebuilt in Loughton.

The character actor Jack Watling (1923–2001) lived in Alderton Hall, Loughton. His son, Giles (born 1953), also an actor, was born there. Actor and playwright Ken Campbell (1941–2008), nicknamed 'The Elf of Epping Forest', lived in Baldwins Hill, Loughton, where a blue plaque to him was erected in 2013. Comedy-drama actor Alan Davies (born 1966) grew up in Loughton, and attended Staples Road school. Actress Jane Carr (born 1950), best known for her role as "Louise Mercer" in the American version of the sitcom Dear John from 1988 to 1992, was born in Loughton. Amateur drama is performed mainly at Lopping Hall. Performances are from Loughton Amateur Dramatic Society, founded in 1924, which until 2006 alternated with those from the now-defunct West Essex Repertory Company, founded in 1945. Lopping Hall opened in 1884 and was paid for by the Corporation of London to compensate villagers for the loss of traditional rights to lop wood in Epping Forest, rights which were bought out when the management of the forest was taken over by the corporation in 1878. Lopping Hall served as Loughton's town hall and was the venue for most of the parish's social – and especially musical - activities during the early 20th century. There are ambitious plans by the Trustees for the building's restoration. There is also a full-scale theatre, the College Theatre, on the campus of Epping Forest College.

Music
Loughton's classical music scene dates back to the late 19th century, when there were regular concerts by the Loughton Choral Society in Lopping Hall under the conductorship of Henry Riding. Today, performances are mainly at two venues: Loughton Methodist Church hosts the annual Loughton Youth Music Festival, which showcases talented pupils from local schools and colleges. St. John's Church festival choir undertakes extensive overseas tours, and in turn hosts well-known soloists, chamber and operatic groups. The music hall artiste José Collins (1887–1958) lived at 107 High Road. The hymn writer Sarah Flower Adams (1805–1848) lived with her husband William Bridges Adams (1797–1872) at a house called 'Sunnybank', demolished in 1888 and replaced by No. 9 Woodbury Hill. Sarah's most famous hymn was "Nearer, My God, to Thee", apparently written at Loughton in 1840, while William, a locomotive engineer, was the inventor of the fishplate used to connect rail tracks.

Loughton is also home to the National Jazz Archive (see below), which hosts occasional jazz performances. Gladys Mills (1918–1978), a music-hall pianist who performed as "Mrs Mills", lived in Roding Road from 1934, and upon her marriage in 1947, in Barncroft Close until 1964. Loughton boasts a few rock and pop music connections; Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits was a lecturer at Loughton College (now Epping Forest College), and the Genesis song "The Battle of Epping Forest" is based on an actual event when rival East End gangs fought a turf war in the forest. The Wake Arms public house (now demolished), which was about 50 yd north of the Loughton boundary in Waltham Abbey on a roundabout, was a rock music venue from 1968 to 1973, hosting bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Genesis, Pretty Things, Status Quo, Uriah Heep, and Van der Graaf Generator. Ray Dorset, the lead singer of Mungo Jerry, had his first taste of fame when his band 'The Tramps' won the Loughton Beat Contest in 1964.

Roding Players is an amateur orchestra which rehearses at Roding Valley High School and gives three concerts a year in the Epping Forest area; composer Miles Harwood is Musical Director. Loughton Ladies Choir gives regular afternoon concerts in the Epping Forest area. Epping Forest Brass Band, founded in 1935, also has regular concerts in the Epping Forest area, and competes in national competitions and exhibitions. Loughton Cinema had a resident ladies' band during the 1930s. Music at the LMC is a series of concerts given by visiting artists in the winter months.

Loughton also has its own music academy the 'Loughton Music Academy' founded in 2001. Performances are with full orchestral participation. The 'Community Music Initiative' or CMI is a charitable project led by the LMA which provides music lessons for schools in the area who do not benefit from musical facilities.

Loughton Folk Club was founded on 28 October 2010 and held its first Loughton Folk Day on 9 April 2011. The Club meets weekly at 8pm at Loughton Club, Station Road, Loughton.

Opera and dance
In the 1930s, Loughton was home to the Pollards Operas, outdoor operatic performances in the garden of a large house. These were directed by Iris Lemare (1902–1997) and produced by Geoffrey Dunn (1903–1981), a prominent impresario, actor and cinematographer, and included several first British performances of operas. Loughton Operatic Society, founded in 1894, is one of the oldest arts organisations in Essex, and still stages regular musicals and operas at Lopping Hall.

Epping Forest District Council's Arts Unit, Epping Forest Arts, stages occasional dance-based performance works in Loughton, with community and schools participation. Harlow Ballet, which stages full-scale amateur ballet productions at Harlow Playhouse, also recruits in the area.

Visual arts
The sculptor and painter Sir Jacob Epstein (1880–1959) lived at 'Deerhurst' between 1933 and 1950, after having rented no. 49 Baldwins Hill; he produced some of works there. Sculptor Elsa Fraenkel lived at Elm Lodge, Church Lane, after World War II. Artist John Strevens (1902–1990) lived at 8 Lower Park Road from 1963 until his death. Walter Spradbury (1889–1969), best known for his iconic interwar London Transport posters, lived nearby in Buckhurst Hill.

Octavius Deacon was a 19th-century naïve artist from Loughton who painted scenes of village life. William Lakin Turner lived and painted at Clovelly, York Hill, Loughton, in the 1890s. From 1908 to 1936, William Brown Macdougall, artist, and his wife, the author and translator, Margaret Armour, lived in Loughton. Juggler Mark Robertson (1963–1992) lived at 'The Avenue' and appeared at the London Palladium and on television.

The Loughton Arts Club hosts exhibitions by contemporary local artists and photographers at Loughton Library. Loughton Camera Club, a member of the East Anglian Federation of Photographic Societies, meets at Lopping Hall in Loughton, and holds regular exhibitions of members' work in Loughton Library and elsewhere.

Cinema
Early cinematic shows took place in the Lopping Hall. A purpose-built Loughton Cinema was opened by actress Evelyn Laye on 9 October 1928; designed by local architect Theodore Legg, it could seat 847. This was later reduced to 700. The cinema was renamed the Century in 1953, and closed on 25 May 1963, and has since been demolished and replaced by shops. In July 2010 Loughton Town Council organised a screening of An Education, the first film screening in Loughton since the closure of the cinema, and its success prompted the formation of the Loughton Film Society in September 2010 to redress the lack of a local cinema.

George Pearson (1875–1973), a director and film-writer in the early years of British cinematography, was headmaster of Staples Road Junior School, Loughton 1908–1913. Charles Ashton (1884 – c. 1968), film actor from the silent movie era, lived at 20 Carroll Hill, Loughton, from 1917–34. He starred in more than 20 films between 1918–29, including the first film version of The Monkey's Paw, and Kitty, based on Warwick Deeping's novel of the same name.

Several films have been set in the Loughton area, including the 2001 TV movie Hot Money, based on real events at Loughton's Bank of England printing works.

Literature
Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream was perhaps written for the marriage of Sir Thomas Heneage, Vice-Chamberlain of the Royal Household to the Countess of Southampton, who lived near Loughton at Copped Hall.

Lady Mary Wroth (1586–1652), niece of poet Sir Philip Sidney, lived at Loughton Hall with her husband Sir Robert Wroth, and they turned the mansion into a centre of Jacobean literary life. Ben Jonson was a frequent visitor, and dedicated his play The Alchemist to Mary and poetry collection The Forest to Sir Robert. Lady Mary was an author in her own right, and her book Urania is generally regarded as the first full-length English novel by a woman.

Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) who lived for some time at nearby Waltham Cross, set part of his novel Phineas Finn (1869), which parodies corrupt electoral procedures, in a fictitious Loughton. Robert Hunter, lexicographer and encyclopaedist (1823–1897) built a house in Loughton, and there compiled his massive Encyclopaedic dictionary. William Wymark Jacobs (1863–1943) lived at The Outlook, Upper Park Road before moving to Feltham House, Goldings Road. Best known as the author of the short story The Monkey's Paw. Jacobs also wrote sardonic short stories based in 'Claybury', a thinly veiled fictionalisation of Loughton. Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) stayed as a child at Goldings Hill Farm.

Arthur Morrison (1863–1945), best known for his grim novels about London's East End, lived in Salcombe House, Loughton High Road. Constance E. H. Inskip (1905–1945) an Evening News journalist who also wrote three novels amongst other translation work, lived in the town until her death at the birth of her daughter. Both were buried at nearby High Beach. Hesba Stretton (1832–1911) was a children's author who lived in Loughton. Hesba Stretton was the pen name of Sarah Smith; her novels about the street children of Victorian London raised awareness of their plight. Horace Newte lived at Alderton Hall and the Chestnuts: he was a prolific novelist. Another children's writer, Winifred Darch (1884–1960), taught at Loughton County High School for Girls 1906–1935 (now Roding Valley High School), as did the hymnodist and poet, Emily Chisholm (1910–1991), who lived in Loughton at 3 Lower Park Rd.

Ruth Rendell, Baroness Rendell of Babergh (1930–2015), who lived in Shelley Grove, Loughton, was educated at Loughton County High School for Girls and subsequently worked as a journalist in Loughton at the West Essex Gazette. Some of her fiction is set in Epping Forest, and 'Little Cornwall', the hilly area of north-west Loughton close to Epping Forest, takes its name from her description in the novel The Face of Trespass. Much of her 2014 novel The Girl Next Door is set in the Loughton of 1944 and 2013. There is a blue plaque on one of her former homes, 45 Millsmead Way.

Poets associated with Loughton include Sarah Flower Adams (1805–1848), and Sarah Catherine Martin (c. 1766–1826), author of the nursery rhyme "Old Mother Hubbard", who is buried in the churchyard of St. Nicholas Church, Loughton. William Sotheby (1757–1833), poet and classicist, lived at Fairmead, Loughton. Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) lived at Beech Hill House, High Beach 1837–1840 where he wrote parts of his magnum opus "In Memoriam". John Clare (1793–1864) lived at a private asylum at High Beach 1837–1841. The First World War poet Edward Thomas (1878–1917) also lived at High Beach 1915–1917. The poet George Barker (1913–1991) was born at 116 Forest Road, Loughton. Geoffrey Ainger (1925–2013), who wrote the Christmas carols "Born in the Night", "Mary's Child", "Do Shepherds Stand" and several other hymns, was Methodist minister of Loughton 1958–63. Ralph Russell, foremost Western scholar of Urdu language and literature, lived in Queens Road as a child and attended Staples Road School.

T. E. Lawrence bought land at Pole Hill in Chingford after the First World War and constructed a hut and swimming pool there. After the Chingford Urban District council bought the land in 1930 and demolished his structures, he re-erected the hut in the grounds of The Warren in Loughton in 1931. The hut remains there, but in a state of disrepair.

Museum and archives
Loughton is home to two national archives:

 * The British Postal Museum Store, in Lenthall Road, houses objects ranging from the desk of Rowland Hill (founder of the Penny Post), to mobile post office vehicles and an astounding range of post boxes.
 * The National Jazz Archive is housed in Loughton Library and Town Hall; it is the national repository and research centre for printed material, photographs and memorabilia relating to jazz, with an emphasis on British jazz. Founded by jazz trumpeter Digby Fairweather in 1988, it includes a collection of British jazz recordings, photographs, posters and memorabilia. The archive holds regular celebrity and live jazz events.

Funding was pledged in 2006 to help establish a Street Museum in Loughton. There is also an Epping Forest District Museum store in the town, but this is not open to the public.

A number of Loughton buildings, including the Masonic Hall, Lopping Hall, Mortuary Chapel and several churches, were opened for Heritage Open Days in September 2007, the first time this had been done.

Sport and leisure
A number of sports personalities live in the town, including cricketers James Foster and Ryan ten Doeschate, and footballer Harry Kane.

Loughton Leisure Centre at Traps Hill, managed by a private operator on behalf of the Epping Forest District Council, includes a swimming pool complex and fitness facilities. Other large commercial sports and leisure facilities are also to be found in the area.

Total Football Mania runs 6 per side football adult leagues at Roding Valley School and Debden Park School. Www.totalfootballmania.com
 * Athletics - Members of the Loughton Athletic Club, based at the Pavilion in Southview Road and affiliated to the Essex AAA, compete in a variety of regional track and field competitions, including the Women's Southern League and the Men's Southern League.
 * Bowls - Loughton Bowls Club has its ground at Eleven Acre Rise.
 * Cricket - Loughton Cricket Club was founded in 1879, and plays in the Shepherd Neame Essex League. Its cricket ground, complete with thatched pavilion, and facing the war memorial, is one of the town's most important open spaces and originated as a field named Mott's Piece. One of the earliest presidents of the Loughton Cricket Club was Julius Rohrweger, a local German extraction who owned Uplands, a large house adjacent to the cricket ground. As he was politically a Liberal, the local Conservative party created and supported for some time a rival team, the Loughton Park Cricket Club, though this no longer exists. The South Loughton Cricket Club was founded in 1938 and plays at the Roding Road Cricket Ground. In 2007, its 1st XI became Ten-17 Herts & Essex League champions, having won the title following three consecutive promotions. The club also runs four other teams playing league-friendly cricket and has a junior section. The club was one of the first in the UK to gain Sport England's prestigious 'Clubmark' accreditation. It is an ECB 'Focus Club'.
 * Fencing - Loughton Fencing Club meets at Debden Park High School.
 * Football - At Willingale Road Playing Fields and at the Roding Valley Recreation Ground a variety of local football teams play. Loughton Town FC & Coppice Row play their home games at the latter, in the Essex Sunday Combination & The Harlow and District League respectively. GFA Loughton FC, founded in 2014, has youth teams in the Echo Junior League as well as running Grassroots Football Academy, a Youth Football Academy at GGSK College, Roding Lane IG9.

Loughton FC, founded in 1965, dropped out of the Hertfordshire Senior County League in 2007 and now plays in the Bishops Stortford, Stansted and District League and has youth teams in the Echo Junior League and the Barking Youth League. Ron Greenwood (1921–2006), manager of the England football team 1977–82, lived in Loughton for some years at 18 Brooklyn Avenue. The Football Academy UK opened in July 2007 on the site of the Britannia Sports Club in Langston Road.

 * Golf - Loughton Golf Club owns a 9-hole course in Clays Lane. There are many other golf courses close by, including Abridge Golf and Country Club, Chigwell Golf Club, Chingford Golf Club, Royal Epping Forest Golf Club, Theydon Bois Golf Club, West Essex Golf Club, Woodford Golf Club and Woolston Manor Golf Club.
 * Horse-riding - Horseriders need to be registered with the Epping Forest conservators before they are allowed to ride in the forest.
 * Mountain-biking - Mountain biking is generally permitted except around Loughton Camp and Ambresbury Banks (both Iron Age forts), Loughton Brook and other ecologically or geomorphologically sensitive areas. Epping Forest was considered as a venue for the mountain-biking event of the 2012 Summer Olympics, though a later (but subsequently abandoned) choice was Weald Country Park near Brentwood, Essex.
 * Orienteering and Rambling - Several long-distance footpaths pass through Loughton, including the Forest Way and the London Outer Orbital Path, and shorter walks are also popular, especially in Epping Forest. Chigwell & Epping Forest Orienteering Club was founded in 1966, and active orienteering in Epping Forest takes place most weekends. West Essex Ramblers, founded in 1970, are the local rambling club for Loughton. The most important event in the ramblers calendar in the area is the traditional Epping Forest Centenary Walk, an all-day event commemorating the saving of Epping Forest as a public space, which takes place annually on the fourth Sunday in September.
 * Speedway -The first event at High Beach near Loughton was staged on 19 February 1928.
 * Swimming - Epping Forest District Swimming Club, founded in 1977, meets at Loughton Leisure Centre.
 * Tennis - The Avenue Lawn Tennis Club has four artificial grass courts on its ground between The Avenue and Lower Park Road. From November 2006 to March 2007, the tennis courts were resurfaced with a new layer of astroturf and sand. There is a children's half-court with a basketball net. The courts surround the clubhouse which (among other things) contains a table tennis table and a pool table. The Town Council maintains tennis courts on the Roding Valley, but those which are part of the Loughton Bowls and Lawn Tennis Club are disused.
 * Taekwondo - Loughton Taekwondo meets at Debden Park High School. The club ranked top 5 at the BTCB National Taekwondo Championships in 2010 with 4 athletes becoming British Champion. The instructor Chan Sau won England's first ever gold medal at the 2008 Commonwealth Games in Canada.
 * Karate - The Loughton Karate Club meets at The Lopping Hall or the Loughton Club Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays

Railway

The town is served by both Loughton tube station and, further north-east, Debden tube station on the Central line of the London Underground. The line provides access to locations in the City, east and west London.

The current Loughton station was opened in 1940, but both the line and stations existed before that. The railway line dates back to 22 August 1856, when the branch from Stratford was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway. Debden station was named Chigwell Lane from 1865 until 1949 (although it was Chigwell Road for a few months in 1865). The route transferred to the Central line in 1949.

Buses
Bus routes serving Loughton are London Buses services, operated primarily by Stagecoach London. Services link the town with Buckhurst Hill, Chingford, Debden, Ilford, Walthamstow and Woodford. Other services include Route 66 operated by Arriva to Waltham Cross and various Central Connect services.

Roads
The M11 motorway, which links Cambridge to London, is accessed on Loughton's eastern boundary at junction 5 (south). The junction does not permit entry to northbound carriageway, nor exit southbound. The M11 was constructed in a number of phases beginning in the 1970s and finally opened in the 1980s.

Education
In 2006, schools in Loughton had approximately 2330 places in post-16 education, approximately 1200 places in Key Stage 4, approx. 1700 places in Key Stage 3, approximately 1500 places in Key Stage 2 and approximately 600 places in Key Stage 1 - almost all of which were in comprehensive schools. Davenant Foundation has always had a sixth form; the other two secondary schools opened sixth forms in September 2015.

Primary schools

 * Alderton Infant and Junior Schools
 * Hereward Primary School
 * Staples Road Primary School (an amalgamation of Staples Road Infant and Junior Schools in 2011)
 * Thomas Willingale School
 * White Bridge Primary School (an amalgamation of White Bridge Infant and Junior Schools in 2014/2015)
 * St John Fisher Catholic Primary School

Secondary schools

 * Davenant Foundation School
 * Debden Park High School
 * Roding Valley High School

Faith schools

 * St. John Fisher Catholic Primary School - a voluntary aided school, whose Board consisting of appointees from the Catholic Church controls the admission policy whilst the Essex Local Education Authority provides its funding.
 * Davenant Foundation School - founded in Whitechapel in 1680, and moved to Loughton in 1965–66. Despite its title, it is a voluntary aided school; the school is an ecumenical Christian school for 11- to 18-year-olds, which operates its own admissions policy based on parental attendance at any mainstream Christian church. In deference to its origins in a part of east London with a large Jewish population, Jewish children are also eligible.

Special schools

 * Oak View School
 * Woodcroft School

Independent schools

 * Oaklands School (age 2½–11)

Colleges

 * Debden House - residential adult education college
 * East 15 Acting School - part of the University of Essex
 * Epping Forest College - further education college
 * LMAT - music academy

Notable people
Notable people associated with Loughton (apart from those listed above) include:

 * Dick Turpin (1705–1739) — notorious highwayman, was familiar with Epping Forest (his butcher's shop was in Buckhurst Hill) and carried out many documented robberies in the area during the 1730s, sometimes escaping and hiding in the forest in Turpin's Cave.
 * Thomas Willingale (1799–1870) — whose name is associated with the campaign that resulted in the preservation of Epping Forest. A plaque commemorating him is to be found in the wall of St John's Church at Church Lane.
 * James Cubitt (1836–1912) — architect, best known for his design of nonconformist chapels such as the Union Chapel, Islington and the Welsh Church in Charing Cross Road in London, lived from c. 1880 onwards at Brook Villas and Cotsall Eaton Villas on the High Road, and spent the last years of his life at Monghyr Cottage in Traps Hill.
 * Everard Calthrop (1857–1927) — railway engineer and parachute pioneer, lived at 'Goldings' from the early 1900s onwards.
 * Sir Leonard Erskine Hill (1866–1952) — physiologist
 * Vaughan and Rosalind Nash — biographer of Florence Nightingale
 * Dr Millais Culpin (1874–1953) — surgeon and pioneer of psychiatry, lived at 'Slyder's Gate' and then 'The Meads', both in Church Hill, from 1913 onwards – a fictionalised version of the romance between him and his future wife Ethel, a nurse at the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel where they both worked, was dramatised in the BBC TV series Casualty 1907 in 2008 and Casualty 1909 in 2009.
 * Sir Frank Baines (1877–1933) — former Principal Architect of the government's Office of Works and chiefly known for designing Thames House and Imperial Chemical House in London, lived at 'Hillside' and built other large houses in Loughton.
 * Major Greenwood (1880–1949) — epidemiologist and statistician - Sir Leonard Hill gave him his first job after graduation as an assistant physiologist before he turned to his later career, and he later became a neighbour of the Hill family in Loughton
 * Sidney Godley (1889–1957) — first private soldier awarded the Victoria Cross during the Great War, is buried in Loughton Cemetery.
 * Sir Hugh Cairns (1896–1952) — neurosurgeon and advocate of the crash helmet, lived at Loughton whilst working at the London Hospital.
 * Sir Austin "Tony" Bradford Hill (1897–1991) — epidemiologist and statistician, and son of Sir Leonard Erskine Hill, grew up in the family home at Osborne House and published several research collaborations with Major Greenwood, a family friend.
 * Captain Richard Been Stannard (1902-1977) — recipient of the first Royal Naval Reserve Victoria Cross of the Second World War, once lived on The Avenue.
 * Sir William Addison (1905–1992) — historian and author, owned a bookshop in Loughton High Road for forty years.
 * Commander Rupert Brabner (1911–1945) —Conservative MP for Hythe 1939–1945 and WWII pilot with the Royal Navy, was born in Loughton
 * James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson (1915–2001) — RAF fighter ace
 * Len Murray (1922–2004) — later Baron Murray of Epping Forest, leader of the Trades Union Congress 1973–1984, lived for over 50 years in The Crescent and played an active role in town life. He is commemorated by the Murray Hall, opened 2007.
 * Ron Moulton (1924-2010) — author and editor
 * Matt Johnson (born 1961) — frontman of the band the The, spent part of his childhood in "The Crown" pub, run by his parents Eddie and Shirley in the 1970s and 1980s.
 * Alan Davies (born 1966) — comedian, actor and broadcaster
 * Joanna Forest (born 1977) — classical soprano
 * Richard Hounslow (born 1981) — canoeing silver medallist at the 2012 Summer Olympics
 * Gary Hooper (born 1988) — Glasgow Celtic footballer

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Loughton


text:
Ultrafiltration

Ultrafiltration (UF) is a variety of membrane filtration in which forces such as pressure or concentration gradients lead to a separation through a semipermeable membrane. Suspended solids and solutes of high molecular weight are retained in the so-called retentate, while water and low molecular weight solutes pass through the membrane in the permeate (filtrate). This separation process is used in industry and research for purifying and concentrating macromolecular (103–106 Da) solutions, especially protein solutions.

Ultrafiltration is not fundamentally different from microfiltration. Both of these are separate based on size exclusion or particle capture. It is fundamentally different from membrane gas separation, which separate based on different amounts of absorption and different rates of diffusion. Ultrafiltration membranes are defined by the molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the membrane used. Ultrafiltration is applied in cross-flow or dead-end mode.

Applications
Industries such as chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, food and beverage processing, and waste water treatment, employ ultrafiltration in order to recycle flow or add value to later products. Blood dialysis also utilizes ultrafiltration.

Drinking water
Ultrafiltration can be used for the removal of particulates and macromolecules from raw water to produce potable water. It has been used to either replace existing secondary (coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation) and tertiary filtration (sand filtration and chlorination) systems employed in water treatment plants or as standalone systems in isolated regions with growing populations. When treating water with high suspended solids, UF is often integrated into the process, utilising primary (screening, flotation, filtration) and some secondary treatments as pre-treatment stages. UF processes are currently preferred over traditional treatment methods for the following reasons:

 * No chemicals required (aside from cleaning)
 * Constant product quality regardless of feed quality
 * Compact plant size
 * Capable of exceeding regulatory standards of water quality, achieving 90–100% pathogen removal

UF processes are currently limited by the high cost incurred due to membrane fouling and replacement. Additional pretreatment of feed water is required to prevent excessive damage to the membrane units.

In many cases UF is used for pre filtration in reverse osmosis (RO) plants to protect the RO membranes.

Protein concentration
UF is used extensively in the dairy industry; particularly in the processing of cheese whey to obtain whey protein concentrate (WPC) and lactose-rich permeate. In a single stage, a UF process is able to concentrate the whey 10–30 times the feed.

The original alternative to membrane filtration of whey was using steam heating followed by drum drying or spray drying. The product of these methods had limited applications due to its granulated texture and insolubility. Existing methods also had inconsistent product composition, high capital and operating costs and due to the excessive heat used in drying would often denature some of the proteins.

Compared to traditional methods, UF processes used for this application:
 * Are more energy efficient
 * Have consistent product quality, 35–80% protein product depending on operating conditions
 * Do not denature proteins as they use moderate operating conditions

The potential for fouling is widely discussed, being identified as a significant contributor to decline in productivity. Cheese whey contains high concentrations of calcium phosphate which can potentially lead to scale deposits on the membrane surface. As a result, substantial pretreatment must be implemented to balance pH and temperature of the feed to maintain solubility of calcium salts.

Other applications

 * Filtration of effluent from paper pulp mill
 * Cheese manufacture, see ultrafiltered milk
 * Removal of some bacteria from milk
 * Process and waste water treatment
 * Enzyme recovery
 * Fruit juice concentration and clarification
 * Dialysis and other blood treatments
 * Desalting and solvent-exchange of proteins (via diafiltration)
 * Laboratory grade manufacturing
 * Radiocarbon dating of bone collagen
 * Recovery of electrodeposition paints
 * Treatment of oil and latex emulsions
 * Recovery of lignin compounds in spent pulping liquors

Principles
The basic operating principle of ultrafiltration uses a pressure induced separation of solutes from a solvent through a semi permeable membrane. The relationship between the applied pressure on the solution to be separated and the flux through the membrane is most commonly described by the Darcy equation:

 * $$J = {TMP \over \mu R_\mathrm{t}}$$,

where $J$ is the flux (flow rate per membrane area), $TMP$ is the transmembrane pressure (pressure difference between feed and permeate stream), $μ$ is solvent viscosity and $R_{t}$ is the total resistance (sum of membrane and fouling resistance).

Concentration polarization
When filtration occurs the local concentration of rejected material at the membrane surface increases and can become saturated. In UF, increased ion concentration can develop an osmotic pressure on the feed side of the membrane. This reduces the effective TMP of the system, therefore reducing permeation rate. The increase in concentrated layer at the membrane wall decreases the permeate flux, due to increase in resistance which reduces the driving force for solvent to transport through membrane surface. CP affects almost all the available membrane separation processes. In RO, the solutes retained at the membrane layer results in higher osmotic pressure in comparison to the bulk stream concentration. So the higher pressures are required to overcome this osmotic pressure. Concentration polarisation plays a dominant role in ultrafiltration as compared to microfiltration because of the small pore size membrane. Concentration polarization differs from fouling as it has no lasting effects on the membrane itself and can be reversed by relieving the TMP. It does however have a significant effect on many types of fouling.

Types of Foulants
The following are the four categories by which foulants of UF membranes can be defined in:
 * biological substances
 * macromolecules
 * particulates
 * ions

Particulate deposition
The following models describe the mechanisms of particulate deposition on the membrane surface and in the pores:

 * Standard blocking: macromolecules are uniformly deposited on pore walls
 * Complete blocking: membrane pore is completely sealed by a macromolecule
 * Cake formation: accumulated particles or macromolecules form a fouling layer on the membrane surface, in UF this is also known as a gel layer
 * Intermediate blocking: when macromolecules deposit into pores or onto already blocked pores, contributing to cake formation

Scaling
As a result of concentration polarization at the membrane surface, increased ion concentrations may exceed solubility thresholds and precipitate on the membrane surface. These inorganic salt deposits can block pores causing flux decline, membrane degradation and loss of production. The formation of scale is highly dependent on factors affecting both solubility and concentration polarization including pH, temperature, flow velocity and permeation rate.

Biofouling
Microorganisms will adhere to the membrane surface forming a gel layer – known as biofilm. The film increases the resistance to flow, acting as an additional barrier to permeation. In spiral-wound modules, blockages formed by biofilm can lead to uneven flow distribution and thus increase the effects of concentration polarization.

Membrane arrangements
Depending on the shape and material of the membrane, different modules can be used for ultrafiltration process. Commercially available designs in ultrafiltration modules vary according to the required hydrodynamic and economic constraints as well as the mechanical stability of the system under particular operating pressures. The main modules used in industry include:

Tubular modules
The tubular module design uses polymeric membranes cast on the inside of plastic or porous paper components with diameters typically in the range of 5–25 mm with lengths from 0.6–6.4 m. Multiple tubes are housed in a PVC or steel shell. The feed of the module is passed through the tubes, accommodating radial transfer of permeate to the shell side. This design allows for easy cleaning however the main drawback is its low permeability, high volume hold-up within the membrane and low packing density.

Hollow fibre
This design is conceptually similar to the tubular module with a shell and tube arrangement. A single module can consist of 50 to thousands of hollow fibres and therefore are self-supporting unlike the tubular design. The diameter of each fibre ranges from 0.2–3 mm with the feed flowing in the tube and the product permeate collected radially on the outside. The advantage of having self-supporting membranes as is the ease at which it can be cleaned due to its ability to be backflushed. Replacement costs however are high, as one faulty fibre will require the whole bundle to be replaced. Considering the tubes are of small diameter, using this design also makes the system prone to blockage.

Spiral-wound modules
Are composed of a combination of flat membrane sheets separated by a thin meshed spacer material which serves as a porous plastic screen support. These sheets are rolled around a central perforated tube and fitted into a tubular steel pressure vessel casing. The feed solution passes over the membrane surface and the permeate spirals into the central collection tube. Spiral-wound modules are a compact and cheap alternative in ultrafiltration design, offer a high volumetric throughput and can also be easily cleaned. However it is limited by the thin channels where feed solutions with suspended solids can result in partial blockage of the membrane pores.

Plate and frame
This uses a membrane placed on a flat plate separated by a mesh like material. The feed is passed through the system from which permeate is separated and collected from the edge of the plate. Channel length can range from 10–60 cm and channel heights from 0.5–1.0 mm. This module provides low volume hold-up, relatively easy replacement of the membrane and the ability to feed viscous solutions because of the low channel height, unique to this particular design.

Process characteristics
The process characteristics of a UF system are highly dependent on the type of membrane used and its application. Manufacturers' specifications of the membrane tend to limit the process to the following typical specifications:

Process design considerations
When designing a new membrane separation facility or considering its integration into an existing plant, there are many factors which must be considered. For most applications a heuristic approach can be applied to determine many of these characteristics to simplify the design process. Some design areas include:

Pre-treatment
Treatment of feed prior to the membrane is essential to prevent damage to the membrane and minimize the effects of fouling which greatly reduce the efficiency of the separation. Types of pre-treatment are often dependent on the type of feed and its quality. For example, in wastewater treatment, household waste and other particulates are screened. Other types of pre-treatment common to many UF processes include pH balancing and coagulation. Appropriate sequencing of each pre-treatment phase is crucial in preventing damage to subsequent stages. Pre-treatment can even be employed simply using dosing points.

Material
Most UF membranes use polymer materials (polysulfone, polypropylene, cellulose acetate, polylactic acid) however ceramic membranes are used for high temperature applications.

Pore size
A general rule for choice of pore size in a UF system is to use a membrane with a pore size one tenth that of the particle size to be separated. This limits the number of smaller particles entering the pores and adsorbing to the pore surface. Instead they block the entrance to the pores allowing simple adjustments of cross-flow velocity to dislodge them.

Flowtype
UF systems can either operate with cross-flow or dead-end flow. In dead-end filtration the flow of the feed solution is perpendicular to the membrane surface. On the other hand, in cross flow systems the flow passes parallel to the membrane surface. Dead-end configurations are more suited to batch processes with low suspended solids as solids accumulate at the membrane surface therefore requiring frequent backflushes and cleaning to maintain high flux. Cross-flow configurations are preferred in continuous operations as solids are continuously flushed from the membrane surface resulting in a thinner cake layer and lower resistance to permeation.

Flow velocity
Flow velocity is especially critical for hard water or liquids containing suspensions in preventing excessive fouling. Higher cross-flow velocities can be used to enhance the sweeping effect across the membrane surface therefore preventing deposition of macromolecules and colloidal material and reducing the effects of concentration polarization. Expensive pumps are however required to achieve these conditions.

Flow temperature
To avoid excessive damage to the membrane, it is recommended to operate a plant at the temperature specified by the membrane manufacturer. In some instances however temperatures beyond the recommended region are required to minimise the effects of fouling. Economic analysis of the process is required to find a compromise between the increased cost of membrane replacement and productivity of the separation.

Pressure
Pressure drops over multi-stage separation can result in a drastic decline in flux performance in the latter stages of the process. This can be improved using booster pumps to increase the TMP in the final stages. This will incur a greater capital and energy cost which will be offset by the improved productivity of the process. With a multi-stage operation, retentate streams from each stage are recycled through the previous stage to improve their separation efficiency.

Multi-stage, multi-module
Multiple stages in series can be applied to achieve higher purity permeate streams. Due to the modular nature of membrane processes, multiple modules can be arranged in parallel to treat greater volumes.

Post-treatment
Post-treatment of the product streams is dependent on the composition of the permeate and retentate and its end-use or government regulation. In cases such as milk separation both streams (milk and whey) can be collected and made into useful products. Additional drying of the retentate will produce whey powder. In the paper mill industry, the retentate (non-biodegradable organic material) is incinerated to recover energy and permeate (purified water) is discharged into waterways. It is essential for the permeate water to be pH balanced and cooled to avoid thermal pollution of waterways and altering its pH.

Cleaning
Cleaning of the membrane is done regularly to prevent the accumulation of foulants and reverse the degrading effects of fouling on permeability and selectivity.

Regular backwashing is often conducted every 10 min for some processes to remove cake layers formed on the membrane surface. By pressurising the permeate stream and forcing it back through the membrane, accumulated particles can be dislodged, improving the flux of the process. Backwashing is limited in its ability to remove more complex forms of fouling such as biofouling, scaling or adsorption to pore walls.

These types of foulants require chemical cleaning to be removed. The common types of chemicals used for cleaning are:

 * Acidic solutions for the control of inorganic scale deposits
 * Alkali solutions for removal of organic compounds
 * Biocides or disinfection such as chlorine or peroxide when bio-fouling is evident

When designing a cleaning protocol it is essential to consider:

Cleaning time – Adequate time must be allowed for chemicals to interact with foulants and permeate into the membrane pores. However, if the process is extended beyond its optimum duration it can lead to denaturation of the membrane and deposition of removed foulants. The complete cleaning cycle including rinses between stages may take as long as 2 hours to complete.

Aggressiveness of chemical treatment – With a high degree of fouling it may be necessary to employ aggressive cleaning solutions to remove fouling material. However, in some applications this may not be suitable if the membrane material is sensitive, leading to enhanced membrane ageing.

Disposal of cleaning effluent – The release of some chemicals into wastewater systems may be prohibited or regulated therefore this must be considered. For example, the use of phosphoric acid may result in high levels of phosphates entering water ways and must be monitored and controlled to prevent eutrophication.

Summary of common types of fouling and their respective chemical treatments

New developments
In order to increase the life-cycle of membrane filtration systems, energy efficient membranes are being developed in membrane bioreactor systems. Technology has been introduced which allows the power required to aerate the membrane for cleaning to be reduced whilst still maintaining a high flux level. Mechanical cleaning processes have also been adopted using granulates as an alternative to conventional forms of cleaning; this reduces energy consumption and also reduces the area required for filtration tanks.

Membrane properties have also been enhanced to reduce fouling tendencies by modifying surface properties. This can be noted in the biotechnology industry where membrane surfaces have been altered in order to reduce the amount of protein binding. Ultrafiltration modules have also been improved to allow for more membrane for a given area without increasing its risk of fouling by designing more efficient module internals.

The current pre-treatment of seawater desulphonation uses ultrafiltration modules that have been designed to withstand high temperatures and pressures whilst occupying a smaller footprint. Each module vessel is self supported and resistant to corrosion and accommodates easy removal and replacement of the module without the cost of replacing the vessel itself.

title: Ultrafiltration


text:
Microfiltration

Microfiltration is a type of physical filtration process where a contaminated fluid is passed through a special pore-sized membrane filter to separate microorganisms and suspended particles from process liquid. It is commonly used in conjunction with various other separation processes such as ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis to provide a product stream which is free of undesired contaminants.

General principles
Microfiltration usually serves as a pre-treatment for other separation processes such as ultrafiltration, and a post-treatment for granular media filtration. The typical particle size used for microfiltration ranges from about 0.1 to 10 μm. In terms of approximate molecular weight these membranes can separate macromolecules of molecular weights generally less than 100,000 g/mol. The filters used in the microfiltration process are specially designed to prevent particles such as, sediment, algae, protozoa or large bacteria from passing through a specially designed filter. More microscopic, atomic or ionic materials such as water (H2O), monovalent species such as Sodium (Na+) or Chloride (Cl−) ions, dissolved or natural organic matter, and small colloids and viruses will still be able to pass through the filter.

The suspended liquid is passed through at a relatively high velocity of around 1–3 m/s and at low to moderate pressures (around 100-400 kPa) parallel or tangential to the semi-permeable membrane in a sheet or tubular form. A pump is commonly fitted onto the processing equipment to allow the liquid to pass through the membrane filter. There are also two pump configurations, either pressure driven or vacuum. A differential or regular pressure gauge is commonly attached to measure the pressure drop between the outlet and inlet streams. See Figure 1 for a general setup.

The most abundant use of microfiltration membranes are in the water, beverage and bio-processing industries (see below). The exit process stream after treatment using a micro-filter has a recovery rate which generally ranges to about 90-98 %.

Water treatment
Perhaps the most prominent use of microfiltration membranes pertains to the treatment of potable water supplies. The membranes are a key step in the primary disinfection of the uptake water stream. Such a stream might contain pathogens such as the protozoa Cryptosporidium and Giardia lamblia which are responsible for numerous disease outbreaks. Both species show a gradual resistance to traditional disinfectants (i.e. chlorine). The use of MF membranes presents a physical means of separation (a barrier) as opposed to a chemical alternative. In that sense, both filtration and disinfection take place in a single step, negating the extra cost of chemical dosage and the corresponding equipment (needed for handling and storage).

Similarly, the MF membranes are used in secondary wastewater effluents to remove turbidity but also to provide treatment for disinfection. At this stage, coagulants (iron or aluminum) may potentially be added to precipitate species such as phosphorus and arsenic which would otherwise have been soluble.

Sterilization
Another crucial application of MF membranes lies in the cold sterilisation of beverages and pharmaceuticals. Historically, heat was used to sterilize refreshments such as juice, wine and beer in particular, however a palatable loss in flavour was clearly evident upon heating. Similarly, pharmaceuticals have been shown to lose their effectiveness upon heat addition. MF membranes are employed in these industries as a method to remove bacteria and other undesired suspensions from liquids, a procedure termed as 'cold sterilisation', which negate the use of heat.

Petroleum refining
Furthermore, microfiltration membranes are finding increasing use in areas such as petroleum refining, in which the removal of particulates from flue gases is of particular concern. The key challenges/requirements for this technology are the ability of the membrane modules to withstand high temperatures (i.e. maintain stability), but also the design must be such to provide a very thin sheeting (thickness < 2000 angstroms) to facilitate an increase of flux. In addition the modules must have a low fouling profile and most importantly, be available at a low-cost for the system to be financially viable.

Dairy processing
Aside from the above applications, MF membranes have found dynamic use in major areas within the dairy industry, particularly for milk and whey processing. The MF membranes aid in the removal of bacteria and the associated spores from milk, by rejecting the harmful species from passing through. This is also a precursor for pasteurisation, allowing for an extended shelf-life of the product. However, the most promising technique for MF membranes in this field pertains to the separation of casein from whey proteins (i.e. serum milk proteins). This results in two product streams both of which are highly relied on by consumers; a casein-rich concentrate stream used for cheese making, and a whey/serum protein stream which is further processed (using ultrafiltration) to make whey protein concentrate. The whey protein stream undergoes further filtration to remove fat in order to achieve higher protein content in the final WPC (Whey Protein Concentrate) and WPI (Whey Protein Isolate) powders.

Other applications
Other common applications utilising microfiltration as a major separation process include
 * Clarification and purification of cell broths where macromolecules are to be separated from other large molecules, proteins, or cell debris.
 * Other biochemical and bio-processing applications such as clarification of dextrose.
 * Production of Paints and Adhesives.

Characteristics of main process
Membrane filtration processes can be distinguished by three major characteristics: driving force, retentate stream and permeate streams. The microfiltration process is pressure driven with suspended particles and water as retentate and dissolved solutes plus water as permeate. The use of hydraulic pressure accelerates the separation process by increasing the flow rate (flux) of the liquid stream but does not affect the chemical composition of the species in the retentate and product streams.

A major characteristic that limits the performance of microfiltration or any membrane technology is a process known as fouling. Fouling describes the deposition and accumulation of feed components such as suspended particles, impermeable dissolved solutes or even permeable solutes, on the membrane surface and or within the pores of the membrane. Fouling of the membrane during the filtration processes decreases the flux and thus overall efficiency of the operation. This is indicated when the pressure drop increases to a certain point. It occurs even when operating parameters are constant (pressure, flow rate, temperature and concentration) Fouling is mostly irreversible although a portion of the fouling layer can be reversed by cleaning for short periods of time.

Membrane configurations
Microfiltration membranes can generally operate in one of two configurations.

Cross-flow filtration: where the fluid is passed through tangentially with respect to the membrane. Part of the feed stream containing the treated liquid is collected below the filter while parts of the water are passed through the membrane untreated. Cross flow filtration is understood to be a unit operation rather than a process. Refer to Figure 2 for a general schematic for the process.

Dead-end filtration; all of the process fluid flows and all particles larger than the pore sizes of the membrane are stopped at its surface. All of the feed water is treated at once subject to cake formation. This process is mostly used for batch or semicontinuous filtration of low concentrated solutions. Refer to Figure 3 for a general schematic for this process.

Process and equipment design
The major issues that influence the selection of the membrane include

Site-specific issues

 * Capacity and demand of the facility.
 * Percentage recovery and rejection.
 * Fluid characteristics (viscosity, turbidity, density)
 * Quality of the fluid to be treated
 * Pre-treatment processes

Membrane specific issues

 * Cost of material procurement and manufacture
 * Operating temperature
 * Trans-membrane pressure
 * Membrane flux
 * Handling fluid characteristics (viscosity, turbidity, density)
 * Monitoring and maintenance of the system
 * Cleaning and treatment
 * Disposal of process residuals

Process design variables

 * Operation and control of all processes in the system
 * Materials of construction
 * Equipment and instrumentation (controllers, sensors) and their cost.

Fundamental design heuristics
A few important design heuristics and their assessment are discussed below:

 * When treating raw contaminated fluids, hard sharp materials can wear and tear the porous cavities in the micro-filter, rendering it ineffective. Liquids must be subjected to pre-treatment before passage through the micro-filter. This may be achieved by a variation of macro separation processes such as screening, or granular media filtration.
 * When undertaking cleaning regimes the membrane must not dry out once it has been contacted by the process stream. Thorough water rinsing of the membrane modules, pipelines, pumps and other unit connections should be carried out until the end water appears clean.
 * Microfiltration modules are typically set to operate at pressures of 100 to 400 kPa. Such pressures allow removal of materials such as sand, slits and clays, and also bacteria and protozoa.
 * When the membrane modules are being used for the first time, i.e. during plant start-up, conditions need to be well devised. Generally a slow-start is required when the feed is introduced into the modules, since even slight perturbations above the critical flux will result in irreversible fouling.

Like any other membranes, microfiltration membranes are prone to fouling. (See Figure 4 below) It is therefore necessary that regular maintenance be carried out to prolong the life of the membrane module.

 * Routine 'backwashing', is used to achieve this. Depending on the specific application of the membrane, backwashing is carried out in short durations (typically 3 to 180 s) and in moderately frequent intervals (5 min to several hours). Turbulent flow conditions with Reynolds numbers greater than 2100, ideally between 3000 - 5000 should be used. This should not however be confused with 'backflushing', a more rigorous and thorough cleaning technique, commonly practiced in cases of particulate and colloidal fouling.
 * When major cleaning is needed to remove entrained particles, a CIP (Clean In Place) technique is used. Cleaning agents/detergents, such as sodium hypochlorite, citric acid, caustic soda or even special enzymes are typically used for this purpose. The concentration of these chemicals is dependent on the type of the membrane (its sensitivity to strong chemicals), but also the type of matter (e.g. scaling due to the presence of calcium ions) to be removed.
 * Another method to increase the lifespan of the membrane may be feasible to design two microfiltration membranes in series. The first filter would be used for pre-treatment of the liquid passing through the membrane, where larger particles and deposits are captured on the cartridge. The second filter would act as an extra "check" for particles which are able to pass through the first membrane as well as provide screening for particles on the lower spectrum of the range.

Design economics
The cost to design and manufacture a membrane per unit of area are about 20% less compared to the early 1990s and in a general sense are constantly declining. Microfiltration membranes are more advantageous in comparison to conventional systems. Microfiltration systems do not require expensive extraneous equipment such as flocculates, addition of chemicals, flash mixers, settling and filter basins. However the cost of replacement of capital equipment costs (membrane cartridge filters etc.) might still be relatively high as the equipment may be manufactured specific to the application. Using the design heuristics and general plant design principles (mentioned above), the membrane life-span can be increased to reduce these costs.

Through the design of more intelligent process control systems and efficient plant designs some general tips to reduce operating costs are listed below

 * Running plants at reduced fluxes or pressures at low load periods (winter)
 * Taking plant systems off-line for short periods when the feed conditions are extreme.
 * A short shutdown period (approximately 1 hour) during the first flush of a river after rainfall (in water treatment applications) to reduce cleaning costs in the initial period.
 * The use of more cost effective cleaning chemicals where suitable (sulphuric acid instead of citric/ phosphoric acids.)
 * The use of a flexible control design system. Operators are able to manipulate variables and setpoints to achieve maximum cost savings.

Table 1 (below) expresses an indicative guide of membrane filtration capital and operating costs per unit of flow.

Table 1 Approximate Costing of Membrane Filtration per unit of flow

Note:

 * Capital Costs are based on dollars per gallon of the treatment plant capacity
 * Design flow is measured in millions of gallons per day.
 * Membrane Costs only (No Pre-Treatment or Post-Treatment equipment considered in this table)
 * Operating and Annual costs, are based on dollars per thousand gallons treated.
 * All prices are in US dollars current of 2009, and is not adjusted for inflation.''

Membrane materials
The materials which constitute the membranes used in microfiltration systems may be either organic or inorganic depending upon the contaminants that are desired to be removed, or the type of application.

 * Organic membranes are made using a diverse range of polymers including cellulose acetate (CA), polysulfone, polyvinylidene fluoride, polyethersulfone and polyamide. These are most commonly used due to their flexibility, and chemical properties.
 * Inorganic membranes are usually composed of sintered metal or porous alumina. They are able to be designed in various shapes, with a range of average pore sizes and permeability.

Membrane structures
General Membrane structures for microfiltration include

 * Screen filters (Particles and matter which are of the same size or larger than the screen openings are retained by the process and are collected on the surface of the screen)
 * Depth filters (Matter and particles are embedded within the constrictions within the filter media, the filter surface contains larger particles, smaller particles are captured in a narrower and deeper section of the filter media.)

Membrane modules

Membrane modules for dead-end flow microfiltration are mainly plate-and-frame configurations. They possess a flat and thin-film composite sheet where the plate is asymmetric. A thin selective skin is supported on a thicker layer that has larger pores. These systems are compact and possess a sturdy design, Compared to cross-flow filtration, plate and frame configurations possess a reduced capital expenditure; however the operating costs will be higher. The uses of plate and frame modules are most applicable for smaller and simpler scale applications (laboratory) which filter dilute solutions.
 * Plate and frame (flat sheet)

This particular design is used for cross-flow filtration. The design involves a pleated membrane which is folded around a perforated permeate core, akin to a spiral, that is usually placed within a pressure vessel. This particular design is preferred when the solutions handled is heavily concentrated and in conditions of high temperatures and extreme pH. This particular configuration is generally used in more large scale industrial applications of microfiltration.
 * Spiral-wound

This design involves bundling several hundred to several thousand hollow fiber membranes in a tube filter housing. Feed water is delivered into the membrane module. It passes through from the outside surface of the hollow fibers and the filtered water exits through the center of the fibers. With the flux rate in excess of 75 gallon per square foot per day, this design can be used for large scale facilities.
 * Hollow fiber

Fundamental design equations
As separation is achieved by sieving, the principal mechanism of transfer for microfiltration through micro porous membranes is bulk flow.

Generally, due to the small diameter of the pores the flow within the process is laminar (Reynolds Number < 2100) The flow velocity of the fluid moving through the pores can thus be determined (by Hagen-Poiseuille's equation), the simplest of which assuming a parabolic velocity profile.

 * $$ v = \frac{D^2*\Delta P}{32*\mu *L} $$

Transmembrane Pressure (TMP)

The transmembrane pressure (TMP) is defined as the mean of the applied pressure from the feed to the concentrate side of the membrane subtracted by the pressure of the permeate. This is applied to dead-end filtration mainly and is indicative of whether a system is fouled sufficiently to warrant replacement.

 * $$ v = \frac{P_F + P_C}{2} - P_P $$

Where

 * $$P_f$$ is the pressure on the Feed Side
 * $$P_c$$ is the pressure of the Concentrate
 * $$P_p$$ is the pressure of the Permeate

Permeate Flux

The permeate flux in microfiltration is given by the following relation, based on Darcy's Law

 * $$ J_v = \frac{1}{A_M}*\frac{dV}{dt} = \frac{\Delta P}{\mu *(R_u + R_c)}$$

Where
 * $$R_u$$ = Permeate membrane flow resistance ($$m-1$$)
 * $$R_c$$ = Permeate cake resistance ($$m-1$$)
 * μ = Permeate viscosity (kg m-1 s-1)
 * ∆P = Pressure Drop between the cake and membrane

The cake resistance is given by:

 * $$ R_c= r*\frac{V_S}{A_m} $$

Where

 * r = Specific cake resistance (m-2)
 * Vs = Volume of cake (m3)
 * AM = Area of membrane (m2)

For micron sized particles the Specific Cake Resistance is roughly.

 * $$ r= \frac{180*(1-\epsilon)}{\epsilon^3*d_s^2 } $$

Where
 * ε = Porosity of cake (unitless)
 * d_s = Mean particle diameter (m)

Rigorous design equations

To give a better indication regarding the exact determination of the extent of the cake formation, one-dimensional quantitative models have been formulated to determine factors such as

 * Complete Blocking (Pores with an initial radius less than the radius of the pore)
 * Standard Blocking
 * Sublayer Formation
 * Cake Formation

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Environmental issues, safety and regulation
Although environmental impacts of membrane filtration processes differ according to the application, a generic method of evaluation is the life-cycle assessment (LCA), a tool for the analysis of the environmental burden of membrane filtration processes at all stages and accounts for all types of impacts upon the environment including emission to land, water and air.

In regards to microfiltration processes, there are a number of potential environmental impacts to be considered. They include global warming potential, photo-oxidant formation potential, eutrophication potential, human toxicity potential, freshwater ecotoxicity potential, marine ecotoxicity potential and terrestrial ecotoxicity potential. In general, the potential environmental impact of the process is largely dependent on flux and the maximum transmembrane pressure, however other operating parameters remain a factor to be considered. A specific comment on which exact combination of operational condition will yield the lowest burden on the environment cannot be made as each application will require different optimisations.

In a general sense, membrane filtration processes are relative "low risk" operations, that is, the potential for dangerous hazards are small. There are, however several aspects to be mindful of. All pressure-driven filtration processes including microfiltration requires a degree of pressure to be applied to the feed liquid stream as well as imposed electrical concerns. Other factors contributing to safety are dependent on parameters of the process. For example, processing dairy product will lead to bacteria formations that must be controlled to comply with safety and regulatory standards.

Comparison with similar processes
Membrane microfiltration is fundamentally the same as other filtration techniques utilising a pore size distribution to physically separate particles. It is analogous to other technologies such as ultra/nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, however, the only difference exists in the size of the particles retained, and also the osmotic pressure. The main of which are described in general below:

Ultrafiltration
Ultrafiltration membranes have pore sizes ranging from 0.1 μm to 0.01 μm and are able to retain proteins, endotoxins, viruses and silica. UF has diverse applications which span from waste water treatment to pharmaceutical applications.

Nanofiltration
Nanofiltration membranes have pores sized from 0.001 μm to 0.01 μm and filters multivalent ions, synthetic dyes, sugars and specific salts. As the pore size drops from MF to NF, the osmotic pressure requirement increases.

Reverse osmosis
Reverse osmosis (RO) is the finest separation membrane process available, pore sizes range from 0.0001 μm to 0.001 μm. Reverse osmosis is able to retain almost all molecules except for water, and due to the size of the pores, the required osmotic pressure is significantly greater than that for microfiltration. Both reverse osmosis and nanofiltration are fundamentally different from microfiltration since the flow goes against the concentration gradient, because those systems use pressure as a means of forcing water to go from low osmotic pressure to high osmotic pressure.

Recent developments
Recent advances in MF have focused on manufacturing processes for the construction of membranes and additives to promote coagulation and therefore reduce the fouling of the membrane. Since MF, UF, NF and RO are closely related, these advances are applicable to multiple processes and not MF alone.

Recently studies have shown dilute KMnO4 preoxidation combined FeCl3 is able to promote coagulation, leading to decreased fouling, in specific the KMnO4 preoxidation exhibited an effect which decreased irreversible membrane fouling.

Similar research has been done into the construction high flux poly(trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT) nanofiber membranes, focusing on increased throughput. Specialised heat treatment and manufacturing processes of the membrane's internal structure exhibited results indicating a 99.6% rejection rate of TiO2 particles under high flux. The results indicate that this technology may be applied to existing applications to increase their efficiency via high flux membranes.

title: Microfiltration