Biofouling

Biofouling and scaling are commonly encountered bottlenecks in large and small scale installations of membrane technology for surface-, waste- or seawater treatment. The phenomena can pose persistent operational challenge with substantial economic impacts if they are left unresolved. Effort has been

Biofouling may lead to severe operational challenges that can significantly impair membrane desalination processes. In recent years, copper-based nanoparticles (Cu-NPs) have gained increased attention as a potentially viable anti-biofouling agent in membrane processes, due to their strong antibacteri

We systematically evaluated the effects of operating conditions on biofouling behaviors in reverse osmosis (RO) membrane processes. The biofouling experiment was performed by filtrating nutrient-containing feed water with a cross-flow cylindrical membrane cell through a circular polyamide RO membrane

Biofouling impacts seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants by hindering module performance, increasing energetic demands, and incurring further costs. Here we investigated the spatial–temporal dynamics of microbial communities along the feedwater, pretreatment, and reverse osmosis stages

Membrane distillation (MD) has become an area of rapidly increasing research and development since the 1990s, providing a potentially cost effective thermally-driven desalination technology when paired with waste heat, solar thermal or geothermal heat sources. One principal challenge for MD is scali

Recent efforts aimed at minimizing membrane fouling have emphasized an increasing demand for on-line monitoring in an effort to accurately predict membrane performance. To this end, an in situ bacterial monitoring system was developed that is integrated within the membrane. Because the target is bac

Biofouling due to microbial growth on the RO membrane adds significant osmotic pressure and causes frequent chemical cleaning which reduces the life of RO membrane. Biocides such as chlorine, ozone, and UV have been used to control microbial growth correlated to the biological fouling of the RO memb

Microbiological contamination of polymeric membranes in the process of their exploitation is an essential problem of membrane technology. It results in the increase of manufacturing costs, destruction of membranes, operating life reduction and secondary contamination of water by the metabolism produ

Special emphasis has recently laid on the biofouling on RO membrane surface for desalination process to provide a better insight into the microbial community composing of biofilms. However, it appears that conventional RFLP tool, which is used to quantify and identify bacterial population, is ineffi

Biofoulants by autopsy of RO membrane and microbiological quality of the intake water were investigated with the samples obtained from existing RO desalination plant. The analysis of organic matters of the biofilm on the membrane surface showed that macromolecular substances such as proteins and car