TY - JOUR
T1 - Sacrificial coating development for biofouling control in membrane systems
AU - Nava Ocampo, Maria F.
AU - Bucs, Szilard
AU - Farinha, Andreia S.F.
AU - Son, Moon
AU - Logan, Bruce E.
AU - Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: The authors thank King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for funding this research project. Graphical abstract was produced by Xavier Pita, scientific illustrator at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
PY - 2020/8/28
Y1 - 2020/8/28
N2 - Current cleaning strategies for biofouling control on spiral wound membrane systems used for seawater desalination are not effective and can hinder long-term membrane performance. To enable effective cleaning of a membrane, we examined the in-situ application and the use of a sacrificial multilayer polyelectrolyte coating on the membrane surface. The membrane coating was based on a layer-by-layer assembly approach using two non-toxic linkers, poly (diallyl-dimethyl ammonium chloride) and poly(sodium-4-styrene sulfonate). This polyelectrolyte coating was effectively applied on the membrane surface under cross-flow conditions, and it was stable on the membrane surface under continuous operation. Coating removal requires only a concentrated sodium chloride solution (synthetic brine in our study) adjusted to pH 11. Using this procedure, both the biofilm and the sacrificial layer could be simultaneously removed, leaving a clean surface compared to the non-coated membrane. Biofouling tests showed that the coated membrane had two-fold higher permeate flux recovery than the control non-coated membrane. The used polyelectrolyte sacrificial coatings avoided the use of toxic linkers and harsh cleaning chemicals, and thus it is a suitable technique for biofouling control on reverse osmosis spiral wound membranes.
AB - Current cleaning strategies for biofouling control on spiral wound membrane systems used for seawater desalination are not effective and can hinder long-term membrane performance. To enable effective cleaning of a membrane, we examined the in-situ application and the use of a sacrificial multilayer polyelectrolyte coating on the membrane surface. The membrane coating was based on a layer-by-layer assembly approach using two non-toxic linkers, poly (diallyl-dimethyl ammonium chloride) and poly(sodium-4-styrene sulfonate). This polyelectrolyte coating was effectively applied on the membrane surface under cross-flow conditions, and it was stable on the membrane surface under continuous operation. Coating removal requires only a concentrated sodium chloride solution (synthetic brine in our study) adjusted to pH 11. Using this procedure, both the biofilm and the sacrificial layer could be simultaneously removed, leaving a clean surface compared to the non-coated membrane. Biofouling tests showed that the coated membrane had two-fold higher permeate flux recovery than the control non-coated membrane. The used polyelectrolyte sacrificial coatings avoided the use of toxic linkers and harsh cleaning chemicals, and thus it is a suitable technique for biofouling control on reverse osmosis spiral wound membranes.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/664993
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S001191642031328X
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85089855644&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.desal.2020.114650
DO - 10.1016/j.desal.2020.114650
M3 - Article
SN - 0011-9164
VL - 496
SP - 114650
JO - Desalination
JF - Desalination
ER -