Modification of a polyamide reverse osmosis membrane by heat treatment for enhanced fouling resistance

The use of heat treatment to improve solute rejection and fouling resistance of a polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was investigated in this study. Heat treatment was carried out by immersing the membrane samples in Milli-Q water at 70 degrees celcius for a specific duration. Heat treatment reduced the pure water permeability from 4.1 to 2.8 L/m2 bar but improved conductivity rejection from 95.5 to 97.0 percent. As a result, a correlation was observed between changes in the two parameters. Marginal changes in the membrane surface characteristics were observed as a result of heat treatment. Heat treatment significantly improved the fouling resistance property of the RO membrane. When the secondary effluent was filtrated at an elevated permeated flux, the virgin RO membrane exhibited 30 percent flux decline while the heat-treated membrane showed only 12 percent flux decline. This is possibly because heat treatment resulted in a denser cross-linked active skin layer, thus reducing the blockage caused by small organic foulants

Fouling autopsy of hollow-fibre MF membranes in wastewater reclamation

Presented at the International Conference on Integrated Concepts on Water Recycling, Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 14–17 February 2005.Fouling in membrane filtration processes is problematic but inevitable as it occurs with the retention of contaminants that accumulate on the membrane surface. The causes of fouling are often specific, depending upon feed water constituents, the membrane, and the operation regime. Therefore, it is desirable that a thorough investigation is performed on fouled membrane elements of the affected plant. This technique is known as “membrane autopsy”, which identifies the cause of poor membrane performance, and hence, gives the opportunity to rectify or mitigate the problem and improve future plant design. The cause of membrane fouling at a small water recycling plant using a hollow-fibre microfiltration system was investigated. A membrane autopsy protocol was developed for water recycling applications that consists of four major steps: (1) tensile testing to investigate the membrane mechanical integrity, (2) direct visual inspection, (3) membrane surface analysis using field-emission environmental scanning electron microscopy (as well as atomic force microscopy, although it is not used in this case) techniques, and (4) foulant constituent analysis. Results obtained from this study indicate that the membrane was fouled by a mixture of colloids and organic matters, enhanced by the presence of multivalent cations. Possible measures to mitigate fouling in this particular case have also been suggested

Trace Contaminant Removal with Nanofiltration

The occurrence and fate of both organic and inorganic trace contaminants in the aquatic environment has long been recognized as an important issue of public health and environmental concern. A wide range of trace organics, both synthetic and natural, have been detected and identified as important contaminants in sewage and effluent impacted water bodies including surface and groundwater. Trace inorganic contaminants can also occur naturally in groundwater under certain geochemical conditions. Trace contaminants are defined as chemicals of concern to human health and the biotic environment due to a combination of their physicochemical toxicological properties. In the aquatic environment, they are present at trace levels, usually in the μg/L range or less. From a toxicological point of view, low concentrations of trace contaminants in ground and drinking water may not always be harmful to humans (in fact in most cases health effects are unknown at this stage), but they are undesirable in regard to the “precautionary principle” [1]. Although trace contaminant removal is an issue facing various industries, this chapter focuses mostly on the water purification process. The role of nanofiltration (NF) in water and wastewater treatment, occurrence of trace contaminants and their environmental implications, separation processes and a review of current studies are presented in this chapter

Removal of trace organic chemicals and performance of a novel hybrid ultrafiltration-osmotic membrane bioreactor

A hybrid ultrafiltration-osmotic membrane bioreactor (UFO-MBR) was investigated for over 35 days for nutrient and trace organic chemical (TOrC) removal from municipal wastewater. The UFO-MBR system uses both ultrafiltration (UF) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes in parallel to simultaneously extract clean water from an activated sludge reactor for nonpotable (or environmental discharge) and potable reuse, respectively. In the FO stream, water is drawn by osmosis from activated sludge through an FO membrane into a draw solution (DS), which becomes diluted during the process. A reverse osmosis (RO) system is then used to reconcentrate the diluted DS and produce clean water suitable for direct potable reuse. The UF membrane extracts water, dissolved salts, and some nutrients from the system to prevent their accumulation in the activated sludge of the osmotic MBR. The UF permeate can be used for nonpotable reuse purposes (e.g., irrigation and toilet flushing). Results from UFO-MBR investigation illustrated that the chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus removals were greater than 99%, 82%, and 99%, respectively. Twenty TOrCs were detected in the municipal wastewater that was used as feed to the UFO-MBR system. Among these 20 TOrCs, 15 were removed by the hybrid UFO-MBR system to below the detection limit. High FO membrane rejection was observed for all ionic and nonionic hydrophilic TOrCs and lower rejection was observed for nonionic hydrophobic TOrCs. With the exceptions of bisphenol A and DEET, all TOrCs that were detected in the DS were well rejected by the RO membrane. Overall, the UFO-MBR can operate sustainably and has the potential to be utilized for direct potable reuse applications

Impact of humic acid fouling on membrane performance and transport of pharmaceutically active compounds in forward osmosis

The impact of humic acid fouling on the membrane transport of two pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) - namely carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole - in forward osmosis (FO) was investigated. Deposition of humic acid onto the membrane surface was promoted by the complexation with calcium ions in the feed solution and the increase in ionic strength at the membrane surface due to the reverse transport of NaCl draw solute. The increase in the humic acid deposition on the membrane surface led to a substantial decrease in the membrane salt (NaCl) permeability coefficient but did not result in a significant decrease in the membrane pure water permeability coefficient. As the deposition of humic acid increased, the permeation of carbamazepine and sulfamethoxazole decreased, which correlated well with the decrease in the membrane salt (NaCl) permeability coefficient. It is hypothesized that the hydrated humic acid fouling layer hindered solute diffusion through the membrane pore and enhanced solute rejection by steric hindrance, but not the permeation of water molecules. The membrane water and salt (NaCl) permeability coefficients were fully restored by physical cleaning of the membrane, suggesting that humic acid did not penetrate into the membrane pores

Low Carbon Desalination by Innovative Membrane Materials and Processes

Seawater and brackish water desalination has been a practical approach to mitigating the global fresh water scarcity. Current large-scale desalination installations worldwide can complementarily augment the global fresh water supplies, and their capacities are steadily increasing year-on-year. Despite substantial technological advance, desalination processes are deemed energy-intensive and considerable sources of CO2emission, leading to the urgent need for innovative low carbon desalination platforms. This paper provides a comprehensive review on innovations in membrane processes and membrane materials for low carbon desalination. In this paper, working principles, intrinsic attributes, technical challenges, and recent advances in membrane materials of the membrane-based desalination processes, exclusively including commercialised reverse osmosis (RO) and emerging forward osmosis (FO), membrane distillation (MD), electrodialysis (ED), and capacitive deionisation (CDI), are thoroughly analysed to shed light on the prospect of low carbon desalination

Water extraction from mixed liquor of an aerobic bioreactor by forward osmosis: membrane fouling and biomass characteristics assessment

This study investigated membrane fouling and biomass characteristics during water extraction from mixed liquor of an aerobic bioreactor by a submerged forward osmosis (FO) system. As the sludge concentration in the reactor increased from 0 to 20 g/L, fouling of the FO membrane increased but was much less severe than that of a reference microfiltration membrane. The results also indicate that aeration can be used to effectively control membrane fouling. By increasing the draw solute concentration, as expected, the initial water flux was increased. However, there appears to be a critical water flux above which severe membrane fouling was encountered. A short-term osmotic membrane bioreactor experiment showed build-up of salinity in the bioreactor due to the reverse draw solute transport and inorganic salts rejection by the FO membrane. Salinity build-up in the bioreactor reduced the permeate flux and sludge production, and at the same time, altered the biomass characteristics, leading to more soluble microbial products and less extracellular polymeric substances in the microbial mass. Additionally, the inhibitory effects of the increased salinity on biomass and the high rejection capacity of FO led to the build-up of ammonia and ortho-phosphate in the bioreactor

Pharmaceutical Retention Mechanisms by Nanofiltration Membranes

This study investigates the retention mechanisms of three pharmaceuticalssulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine, and ibuprofenby nanofiltration (NF) membranes. Laboratory-scale experiments were carried out with two well-characterized NF membranes, with the goal of relating pharmaceutical retention behavior to membrane characteristics, physicochemical properties of the pharmaceutical molecules, and solution chemistry. Results show that retention of pharmaceuticals by a tight NF membrane is dominated by steric (size) exclusion, whereas both electrostatic repulsion and steric exclusion govern the retention of ionizable pharmaceuticals by a loose NF membrane. In the latter case, speciation of pharmaceuticals may lead to a dramatic change in retention as a function of pH, with much greater retention observed for ionized, negatively charged pharmaceuticals. For uncharged pharmaceutical species, intrinsic physicochemical properties of the pharmaceutical molecules can substantially affect their retention. In its neutral form, ibuprofen adsorbs considerably to the membrane because of its relatively high hydrophobicity. Similarly, polarity (represented by the dipole moment) can influence the separation of molecules that are cylindrical in shape because they can be directed to approach the membrane pores head-on due to attractive interaction between the molecule polar centers and fixed charged groups on the membrane surface. This phenomenon is probably inherent for high dipole moment organic compounds, and the governing retention mechanism remains steric in nature

Effects of caustic cleaning on pore size of nanofiltration membranes and their rejection of trace organic chemicals

The aim of this study was to assess the impact of caustic cleaning on the rejection of three different trace organic chemical (TrOC) groups (i.e. neutral hydrophilic, neutral hydrophobic and negatively charged) by two nanofiltration (NF) membranes ‒ namely NF270 and NF90. Chemical cleaning was simulated by exposing virgin membrane samples to commercial caustic cleaning formulations as well as sodium hydroxide solutions containing analytical grade additives such as sodium dodecyl sulfate or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. The membrane average pore size before and after exposure to a commercially available caustic cleaning formulation was determined based on the pore transport model. The results show that caustic chemical cleaning could cause an increase in the membrane pore size, leading to an increase in permeability and decrease in rejection of conductivity. The impact of caustic cleaning on the pore size and solute rejection was a function of the membrane active skin layer and the chemistry of the cleaning formulation. Caustic cleaning led to a small increase in pore size of the NF270 membrane and resulted in a notable increase in the permeability and salt passage. By contrast, the impact on the NF90 membrane was negligible. The influence of caustic cleaning on TrOC rejection was dependent on physical characteristics of each TrOC including their molecular size, charge, and hydrophobicity. The rejection of neutral and hydrophobic TrOC by the NF270 membrane decreased significantly after exposure to caustic cleaning formulation. However, because the rejection of negatively charged TrOC is governed mostly by electrostatic interaction, their rejection was not significantly affected by caustic cleaning

The role of forward osmosis and microfiltration in an integrated osmotic-microfiltration membrane bioreactor system

This study investigates the performance of an integrated osmotic and microfiltration membrane bioreactor (O/MF-MBR) system for wastewater treatment and reclamation. The O/MF-MBR system simultaneously used microfiltration (MF) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes to extract water from the mixed liquor of an aerobic bioreactor. The MF membrane facilitated the bleeding of dissolved inorganic salts and thus prevented the build-up of salinity in the bioreactor. As a result, sludge production and microbial activity were relatively stable over 60 days of operation. Compared to MF, the FO process produced a better permeate quality in terms of nutrients, total organic carbon, as well as hydrophilic and biologically persistent trace organic chemicals (TrOCs). The high rejection by the FO membrane also led to accumulation of hydrophilic and biologically persistent TrOCs in the bioreactor, consequently increasing their concentration in the MF permeate. On the other hand, hydrophobic and readily biodegradable TrOCs were minimally detected in both MF and FO permeates, with no clear difference in the removal efficiencies between two processes