Prevention of Biofouling in Industrial RO Systems: Experiences with Peracetic Acid

Abstract

Biofouling is the major fouling type occurring in reverse osmosis (RO) plants treating surface water or effluent from a waste water treatment plant. Severe biofouling can result in operational problems, higher energy and chemical consumption and premature membrane replacement. There are different methods to control biofouling. One method is removal of nutrients in the pre-treatment of the membrane filtration plant, another method is periodic removal of biofouling by chemical cleanings or the use of chemicals to prevent biological growth in the RO systems. In this paper the results of experiments with peracetic acid on three different full scale plants are presented. Two of the plants are operated by Evides Industriewater, the third one by Bètawater, a subsidiary company for industry water of Waterleidingmaatschappij Drenthe (WMD). One of the main outcomes is that biofouling can be controlled fully on reverse osmosis (RO) plants with the applied method with a peracetic acid based product (Divosan Activ). If the proper measures are taken to avoid oxidation damage due to transition metals, this method with the environmental friendly product results in a stable process and savings by a significantly reduced CIP interval.

Long-term performance and fouling analysis of full-scale direct nanofiltration (NF) installations treating anoxic groundwater

“…The normalized pressure drop (NPD) represents the actual feed channel pressure drop per membrane element corrected for temperature (reference temperature 10 1C) and feed volume flow rate (reference feed volume flow rate 10 m 3 h À 1 ) [21]. The performance data presented in this manuscript represent the overall plant performance and were derived from the normalized data of the individual stages, taking the number of elements per stage into account.…”

“…The normalized feed channel pressure drop (NPD) was calculated using the following equation [21]: The salt retention was calculated based on conductivity measurements using the following equation:…”

Comparative Degradation Kinetics Study of Polyamide Thin Films in Aqueous Solutions of Chlorine and Peracetic Acid Using Quartz Crystal Microbalance

“…Recently, peracetic acid (PAA), an organic peroxide, is proposed as a promising oxidant for membrane cleaning. , PAA has approximately 100-fold greater disinfection strength than H 2 O 2 and exhibits comparable bacterial inactivation as free chlorine in laboratory-based and pilot-scale , studies. To date, only two studies examined PAA interactions with polyamide using commercial membranes. , No significant change in membrane performance was observed upon PAA exposure up to 180 g h L –1 . In addition, unlike H 2 O 2 , PAA does not accelerate the deterioration of membrane performance in the presence of iron .…”

Isolation and characterization of Sphingomonadaceae from fouled membranes

“…4 Membrane filtration has one major disadvantage: fouling. 5 Pre-treatment of the influent and periodical chemical cleaning of the membrane are, therefore, needed to control membrane fouling. 6,7 Pre-treatment for high-pressure membranes is conventionally performed using a combination of processes, such as coagulation and flocculation followed by granular media filtration (e.g., anthracite coal, silica sand, or garnet) and cartridge filtration.…”

“…8 Chemical cleaning leads to a reduction in membrane lifetime and does not restore membrane performance completely under most circumstances (depending on the fouling type). 5 The lack of alternatives makes chemical cleaning inevitable yet more effective and economically feasible antifouling strategies are needed.…”