Biofouling problems in membrane processes for water desalination and reuse in Saudi Arabia

Aleem, F.A. Abd El; Al-Sugair, K.A.; Al-Ahmad, Malik

doi:10.1016/s0964-8305(98)80004-8

Cited by 65 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, biofouling of membrane surfaces is still a challenge for seawater desalination application (Abd El Aleem et al, 1998). The biofouling on membranes is caused by substantial accumulation of biofilm formation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositional similarities and differences between transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) from two marine bacteria and two marine algae: Significance to surface biofouling

Winters

Villacorte

et al. 2015

Marine Chemistry

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Transparent-exopolymer-particles (TEPs) have been recently identified as a significant contributor to surface biofouling, such as on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. TEP research has mainly focused on algal TEP/TEP precursors while limited investigations have been conducted on those released by bacteria. In this study, TEP/TEP precursors derived from both algae and bacteria were isolated and then characterized to investigate their similarities and/or differences using various advanced analytical techniques, thus providing a better understanding of their potential effect on biofouling. Bacterial TEP/TEP precursors were isolated from two species of marine bacteria (Pseudidiomarina homiensis and Pseudoalteromonas atlantica) while algal TEP/TEP precursors were isolated from two marine algae species (Alexandrium tamarense and Chaetoceros affinis). Results indicated that both isolated bacterial and algal TEP/TEP precursors were associated with protein-like materials, and most TEP precursors were high-molecular-weight biopolymers. Furthermore all investigated algal and bacterial TEP/TEP precursors showed a lectin-like property, which can enable them to act as a chemical conditioning layer and to agglutinate bacteria. This property may enhance surface biofouling. However, both proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra and the nitrogen/carbon (N/C) ratios suggested that the algal TEP/TEP precursors contained much less protein content than the bacterial TEP/TEP precursors. This difference may influence their initial deposition and further development of surface biofouling.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compositional similarities and differences between transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) from two marine bacteria and two marine algae: Significance to surface biofouling

Winters

Villacorte

et al. 2015

Marine Chemistry

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“…The phenomenon of the accumulation of marine organisms and their metabolic products (i.e., extracellular polysaccharides [EPS], proteins, and lipids) on the membrane surface is known as biofouling (10,15,16). Excessive membrane biofouling results in increased energy demand for salt separation and the deterioration of product water quality (1,3,17,45). Although research efforts have been devoted to prevent or alleviate biofouling by, for example, disinfection, chemical cleaning, and aeration (26,50), these treatments yield temporary results.…”

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confidence: 99%

Composition and Variability of Biofouling Organisms in Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants

Zhang

Jiang

Tanuwidjaja

et al. 2011

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membrane biofouling remains a common challenge in the desalination industry, but the marine bacterial community that causes membrane fouling is poorly understood. Microbial communities at different stages of treatment processes (intake, cartridge filtration, and SWRO) of a desalination pilot plant were examined by both culture-based and culture-independent approaches. Bacterial isolates were identified to match the genera Shewanella, Alteromonas, Vibrio, and Cellulophaga based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing analysis. The 16S rRNA gene clone library of the SWRO membrane biofilm showed that a filamentous bacterium, Leucothrix mucor, which belongs to the gammaproteobacteria, accounted for nearly 30% of the clone library, while the rest of the microorganisms (61.2% of the total clones) were related to the alphaproteobacteria. 16S rRNA gene terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis indicated that bacteria colonizing the SWRO membrane represented a subportion of microbes in the source seawater; however, they were quite different from those colonizing the cartridge filter. The examination of five SWRO membranes from desalination plants located in different parts of the world showed that although the bacterial communities from the membranes were not identical to each other, some dominant bacteria were commonly observed. In contrast, bacterial communities in source seawater were significantly different based on location and season. Microbial profiles from 14 cartridge filters collected from different plants also revealed spatial trends.Technological advances in reverse osmosis (RO) membranes during the past decade have significantly reduced the energy cost of water production via desalination. Seawater desalination, at present, provides approximately 1% of the world's drinking water supply, and this percentage is increasing by the year (52). However, membrane fouling is one of the most important practical problems facing RO plant operators and membrane manufacturers. The phenomenon of the accumulation of marine organisms and their metabolic products (i.e., extracellular polysaccharides [EPS], proteins, and lipids) on the membrane surface is known as biofouling (10, 15, 16). Excessive membrane biofouling results in increased energy demand for salt separation and the deterioration of product water quality (1,3,17,45). Although research efforts have been devoted to prevent or alleviate biofouling by, for example, disinfection, chemical cleaning, and aeration (26, 50), these treatments yield temporary results. Advancements in membrane materials and the optimization of operational conditions have contributed to biofouling prevention (25,26,48,51); however, these changes cannot eliminate it. The accelerated growth of biofilm on RO membranes likely is due to the physiological response of the bacteria. Systematic and effective strategies for biofouling control have not been established.Investigations of the microbial community that causes RO membrane fouling have not progres...

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“…In order to maintain a constant permeate production rate, a higher feed pressure (P required ) is required to overcome an increased membrane resistance due to the membrane fouling with respect to the operating time [31]. The values of P required under different site-specific conditions of seawater temperature and salinity were used to compute the values of SEC, which are shown in Table 1.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Application of World Ocean Atlas data for estimating the relative performance of a new construction of SWRO desalination plant

Lee

Jung

et al. 2010

Desalination and Water Treatment

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ab s t r ac tDesalination offers one of the reasonable alternatives as a solution to water scarcity. Among the desalination technologies, seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) process becomes increasingly attractive for freshwater supply with comparatively low energy consumption and cost-effective operation. In this study, a benchmark of operating Fujairah SWRO desalination plant in the United Arab Emirates is applied to assess the relative performance of a new and large plant construction in other sites. A process model was developed to simulate the performance of SWRO desalination process and to estimate its operating cost. The developed model was validated using one-year SWRO operation data obtained from Fujairah SWRO desalination plant. Temperature and salinity data were collected from World Ocean Atlas 2005, and then applied to the model to estimate the operating cost under the site-specific conditions of 9 different countries. The results of this study present that the performance of the SWRO desalination process was significantly influenced by feed water concentration (i.e., mainly salinity) and temperature, and that the total operating cost is significantly dependent of the local electricity costs. As a conclusion, World Ocean Atlas data and the benchmark provide a method of comparing the performance of various SWRO desalination systems among different countries. Furthermore the methodology is applicable to simulate the process model with site-specific water quality data and to estimate the operating cost before a new construction of SWRO desalination plant at a target area elsewhere.

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Biofouling problems in membrane processes for water desalination and reuse in Saudi Arabia

Cited by 65 publications

References 5 publications

Compositional similarities and differences between transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) from two marine bacteria and two marine algae: Significance to surface biofouling

Compositional similarities and differences between transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) from two marine bacteria and two marine algae: Significance to surface biofouling

Composition and Variability of Biofouling Organisms in Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Plants

Application of World Ocean Atlas data for estimating the relative performance of a new construction of SWRO desalination plant

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