At the end of this stage, membrane modification e pore
size reduction and thin biocake/biofilm development on
membrane surface e would aggregate membrane fouling
propensity and result in different subsequent TMP exponential
increases. Fig. 6a and d compared the EPS and absolute
SMP composition at HRT of 12 h for three different SRTs. No
significant differences were found in the protein and carbohydrate
concentrations of EPS, although the C/P ratios at RN
were slightly lower than those at R30 and R60 (Fig. 6a).