Characterization of dissolved organic matter and membrane fouling in coagulation-ultrafiltration process treating micro-polluted surface water

Coagulation–ultrafiltration(C–UF) is widely used for surface water treatment. With the removal of pollutants, the characteristics of organic matter change and affect the final treatment efficiency and the development of membrane fouling. In this study, we built a dynamic C–UF set-up to carry out the treatment of micro-polluted surface water, to investigate the characteristics of dissolved organic matter from different units. The influences of poly aluminum chloride and poly dimethyldiallylammonium chloride(PDMDAAC) on removal efficiency and membrane fouling were also investigated. Results showed that the dosage of PDMDAAC evidently increased the UV254 and dissolved organic carbon removal efficiencies,and thereby alleviated membrane fouling in the C–UF process. Most hydrophobic bases(HoB)and hydrophobic neutral fractions could be removed by coagulation. Similarly, UF was good at removing HoB compared to hydrophilic substances(HiS) and hydrophobic acid(HoA)fractions. HiS and HoA fractions with low molecule weight accumulated on the surface of the membrane, causing the increase of transmembrane pressure(TMP). Membrane fouling was mainly caused by a removable cake layer, and mechanical cleaning was an efficient way to decrease the TMP.     

Membrane fouling controlled by coagulation/adsorption during direct sewage membrane filtration (DSMF) for organic matter concentration

Unlike the role of the membrane in a membrane bioreactor, which is designed to replace a sediment tank, direct sewage membrane filtration (DSMF), with the goal of concentrating organic matters, is proposed as a pretreatment process in a novel sewage treatment concept. The concept of membrane-based pretreatment is proposed to divide raw sewage into a concentrated part retaining most organics and a filtered part with less pollutant remaining, so that energy recovery and water reuse, respectively, could be realized by post-treatment. A pilot-scale experiment was carried out to verify the feasibility of coagulant/adsorbent addition for membrane fouling control, which has been the main issue during this DSMF process. The results showed that continuous coagulant addition successfully slowed down the increase in filtration resistance, with the resistance maintained below 1.0 × 10¹³ m^− 1 in the first 70 hr before a jump occurred. Furthermore, the adsorbent addition contributed to retarding the occurrence of the filtration resistance jump, achieving simultaneous fouling control and chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration improvement. The final concentrated COD amounted to 7500 mg/L after 6 days of operation.     

Simultaneously recovering electricity and water from wastewater by osmotic microbial fuel cells: Performance and membrane fouling

Since the concept of the osmotic microbial fuel cell (OsMFC) was introduced in 2011, it has attracted growing interests for its potential applications in wastewater treatment and energy recovery. However, forward osmosis (FO) membrane fouling resulting in a severe water flux decline remains a main obstacle. Until now, the fouling mechanisms of FO membrane especially the development of biofouling layer in the OsMFC are not yet clear. Here, the fouling behavior of FO membrane in OsMFCs was systematically investigated. The results indicated that a thick fouling layer including biofouling and inorganic fouling was existed on the FO membrane surface. Compared to the inorganic fouling, the biofouling played a more important role in the development of the fouling layer. Further analyses by the confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) implied that the growth of biofouling layer on the FO membrane surface in the OsMFC could be divided into three stages. Initially, microorganisms associated with ß-D-glucopyranose polysaccharides were deposited on the FO membrane surface. After that, the microorganisms grew into a biofilm caused a quick decrease of water flux. Subsequently, some of microorganisms were dead due to lack of nutrient source, in the meantime, polysaccharide and proteins in the biofouling layer were decomposed as nutrient source, thus leading to a slow development of the biofouling layer. Moreover, the microorganisms played a significant role in the formation and development of the biofouling layer, and further studies are needed to mitigate the deposition of microorganisms on FO membrane surfaces in OsMFCs.

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Membrane fouling controlled by coagulation/adsorption during direct sewage membrane filtration (DSMF) for organic matter concentration

Unlike the role of the membrane in a membrane bioreactor, which is designed to replace a sediment tank, direct sewage membrane filtration(DSMF), with the goal of concentrating organic matters, is proposed as a pretreatment process in a novel sewage treatment concept. The concept of membrane-based pretreatment is proposed to divide raw sewage into a concentrated part retaining most organics and a filtered part with less pollutant remaining, so that energy recovery and water reuse, respectively, could be realized by post-treatment. A pilot-scale experiment was carried out to verify the feasibility of coagulant/adsorbent addition for membrane fouling control, which has been the main issue during this DSMF process. The results showed that continuous coagulant addition successfully slowed down the increase in filtration resistance, with the resistance maintained below 1.0 × 1013m~(-1) in the first 70 hr before a jump occurred. Furthermore,the adsorbent addition contributed to retarding the occurrence of the filtration resistance jump, achieving simultaneous fouling control and chemical oxygen demand(COD)concentration improvement. The final concentrated COD amounted to 7500 mg/L after 6 days of operation.     

VOC的回收与处理技术简介

介绍了几种以VOC废气中回收溶剂的方法，其分析其优缺点和适用范围，对回收有困难或不经济的含VOC废气，建议采用焚烧法或催化燃烧法进行处理。     

Ozonation as an efficient pretreatment method to alleviate reverse osmosis membrane fouling caused by complexes of humic acid and calcium ion

Humic acids (HA) didn’t cause obvious reverse osmosis (RO) membrane fouling in 45 h. Osmotic pressure (NaCl) affected slightly the RO membrane fouling behavior of HA. Ca²⁺ promoted aggregation of HA molecules and thus aggravated RO membrane fouling. Ozonation eliminated the effect of Ca²⁺ on the RO membrane fouling behavior of HA. The change of the structure of HA was related to its membrane fouling behavior. Humic acid has been considered as one of the most significant sources in feed water causing organic fouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, but the relationship between the fouling behavior of humic acid and the change of its molecular structure has not been well developed yet. In this study, the RO membrane fouling behavior of humic acid was studied systematically with ozonation as a pretreatment method to control RO membrane fouling. Furthermore, the effect of ozone on the structure of humic acid was also explored to reveal the mechanisms. Humic acid alone (10–90 mg/L, in deionized water) was found not to cause obvious RO membrane fouling in 45-h operation. However, the presence of Ca²⁺ aggravated significantly the RO membrane fouling caused by humic acid, with significant flux reduction and denser fouling layer on RO membrane, as it was observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). However, after the pretreatment by ozone, the influence of Ca²⁺ was almost eliminated. Further analysis revealed that the addition of Ca²⁺ increased the particle size of humic acid solution significantly, while ozonation reduced the SUVA₂₅₄, particle size and molecular weight of the complexes of humic acid and Ca²⁺ (HA-Ca²⁺ complexes). According to these results and literature, the bridge effect of Ca²⁺ aggregating humic acid molecules and the cleavage effect of ozone breaking HA-Ca²⁺ complexes were summarized. The change of the structure of humic acid under the effect of Ca²⁺ and ozone is closely related to the change of its membrane fouling behavior.     

水解酸化/生物膜法SBR处理印染废水实验研究

针对印染废水污染物浓度高、种类多、色度高、可生化降解性差等特点,对印染废水采用水解酸化/生物膜法SBR进行处理,结果表明,该处理工艺处理效果较好,出水COD、色度、BOD5、NH3-N浓度分别为60~100 mg/L、50~70倍、20~24 mg/L、5~10 mg/L,平均去除率分别达到92.1%、86.5%、95%、90%。     

Fatty acid fouling of forward osmosis membrane: Effects of pH, calcium, membrane orientation, initial permeate flux and foulant composition

Octanoic acid (OA) was selected to represent fatty acids in effluent organic matter (EOM). The effects of feed solution (FS) properties, membrane orientation and initial permeate flux on OA fouling in forward osmosis (FO) were investigated. The undissociated OA formed a cake layer quickly and caused the water flux to decline significantly in the initial 0.5 hr at unadjusted pH 3.56; while the fully dissociated OA behaved as an anionic surfactant and promoted the water permeation at an elevated pH of 9.00. Moreover, except at the initial stage, the sudden decline of water flux (meaning the occurrence of severe membrane fouling) occurred in two conditions: 1. 0.5 mmol/L Ca^2 +, active layer facing draw solution (AL-DS) and 1.5 mol/L NaCl (DS); 2. No Ca^2 +, active layer-facing FS (AL-FS) and 4 mol/L NaCl (DS). This demonstrated that cake layer compaction or pore blocking occurred only when enough foulants were absorbed into the membrane surface, and the water permeation was high enough to compact the deposit inside the porous substrate. Furthermore, bovine serum albumin (BSA) was selected as a co-foulant. The water flux of both co-foulants was between the fluxes obtained separately for the two foulants at pH 3.56, and larger than the two values at pH 9.00. This manifested that, at pH 3.56, BSA alleviated the effect of the cake layer caused by OA, and OA enhanced BSA fouling simultaneously; while at pH 9.00, the mutual effects of OA and BSA eased the membrane fouling.     

Fabrication and performance of PET mesh enhanced cellulose acetate membranes for forward osmosis

Polyethylene terephthalate mesh(PET) enhanced cellulose acetate membranes were fabricated via a phase inversion process. The membrane fabrication parameters that may affect the membrane performance were systematically evaluated including the concentration and temperature of the casting polymer solution and the temperature and time of the evaporation, coagulation and annealing processes. The water permeability and reverse salt flux were measured in forward osmosis(FO) mode for determination of the optimal membrane fabrication conditions. The optimal FO membrane shows a typical asymmetric sandwich structure with a mean thickness of about 148.2 μm. The performance of the optimal FO membrane was tested using 0.2 mol/L Na Cl as the feed solution and 1.5 mol/L glucose as the draw solution. The membrane displayed a water flux of 3.47 L/(m2·hr) and salt rejection of95.48% in FO mode. While in pressure retarded osmosis(PRO) mode, the water flux was4.74 L/(m2·hr) and salt rejection 96.03%. The high ratio of water flux in FO mode to that in PRO mode indicates that the fabricated membrane has a lower degree of internal concentration polarization than comparable membranes.