TY - JOUR
T1 - How different is the composition of the fouling layer of wastewater reuse and seawater desalination RO membranes?
AU - Khan, Muhammad
AU - Busch, Markus
AU - Molina, Verónica García
AU - Emwas, Abdul-Hamid M.
AU - Aubry, Cyril
AU - Croue, Jean-Philippe
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: We thank Carmem Lara de O. Manes who was hired as consultant to interpret the pyrosequencing data. We also thank KAUST Analytical Core Lab for ICP-OES and CHNS analysis. Additionally, authors thankfully acknowledge the support received from KAUST WDRC lab staff. All the funds for this work were provided by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
PY - 2014/8
Y1 - 2014/8
N2 - To study the effect of water quality and operating parameters on membrane fouling, a comparative analysis of wastewater (WW) and seawater (SW) fouled reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was conducted. Membranes were harvested from SWRO and WWRO pilot plants located in Vilaseca (East Spain), both using ultrafiltration as pretreatment. The SWRO unit was fed with Mediterranean seawater and the WWRO unit was operated using secondary effluent collected from the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Lead and terminal SWRO and WWRO modules were autopsied after five months and three months of operation, respectively. Ultrastructural, chemical, and microbiological analyses of the fouling layers were performed. Results showed that the WWRO train had mainly bio/organic fouling at the lead position element and inorganic fouling at terminal position element, whereas SWRO train had bio/organic fouling at both end position elements. In the case of WWRO membranes, Betaproteobacteria was the major colonizing species; while Ca, S, and P were the major present inorganic elements. The microbial population of SWRO membranes was mainly represented by Alpha and Gammaproteobacteria. Ca, Fe, and S were the main identified inorganic elements of the fouling layer of SWRO membranes. These results confirmed that the RO fouling layer composition is strongly impacted by the source water quality. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
AB - To study the effect of water quality and operating parameters on membrane fouling, a comparative analysis of wastewater (WW) and seawater (SW) fouled reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was conducted. Membranes were harvested from SWRO and WWRO pilot plants located in Vilaseca (East Spain), both using ultrafiltration as pretreatment. The SWRO unit was fed with Mediterranean seawater and the WWRO unit was operated using secondary effluent collected from the municipal wastewater treatment plant. Lead and terminal SWRO and WWRO modules were autopsied after five months and three months of operation, respectively. Ultrastructural, chemical, and microbiological analyses of the fouling layers were performed. Results showed that the WWRO train had mainly bio/organic fouling at the lead position element and inorganic fouling at terminal position element, whereas SWRO train had bio/organic fouling at both end position elements. In the case of WWRO membranes, Betaproteobacteria was the major colonizing species; while Ca, S, and P were the major present inorganic elements. The microbial population of SWRO membranes was mainly represented by Alpha and Gammaproteobacteria. Ca, Fe, and S were the main identified inorganic elements of the fouling layer of SWRO membranes. These results confirmed that the RO fouling layer composition is strongly impacted by the source water quality. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/563669
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0043135414003030
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84899880763&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.watres.2014.04.020
DO - 10.1016/j.watres.2014.04.020
M3 - Article
C2 - 24810743
SN - 0043-1354
VL - 59
SP - 271
EP - 282
JO - Water Research
JF - Water Research
ER -