Seawater reverse osmosis desalination and (harmful) algal blooms

Villacorte, Loreen O.; Tabatabai, S. Assiyeh Alizadeh; Anderson, Donald M.; Amy, Gary L.; Schippers, Jan C.; Kennedy, Maria D.

doi:10.1016/j.desal.2015.01.007

Cited by 132 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 158 publications

(159 reference statements)

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“…Other than pretreatment design and operation, the design of a proper seawater intake system represents a significant amendment for future SWRO facilities to mitigate the effects of HABs [12][13][14]. Although a majority of current SWRO facilities operate with an open (surface water) intake system, the use of subsurface systems (wells and galleries) can significantly reduce the influent suspended solids, bacteria, dissolved organic carbon, and toxic/non-toxic algae present in the source water [69,70].…”

Section: Contribution Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Operational changes may include increasing coagulant/flocculant addition, reducing filtration (granular or membrane based) run times, and increasing backwashing intensity or cleaning frequency of filtration systems [1,12]. More recently, amendments to the design of pretreatment trains may include integrating dissolved air flotation (DAF) systems or changing inline coagulation/flocculation systems to an individual unit treatment process with separate sedimentation tanks to improve algal cell removal [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Caron and co-workers [11] acknowledged two important impacts of HABs on desalination facilities: (1) complete removal of algal toxins; (2) increased demand on pretreatment for membrane fouling prevention. Besides the elevated biomass, algal blooms also contribute to excess organic matter and transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) that intensify the biofouling potential of SWRO membranes [12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased awareness of the harmful effects of HABs on full-scale desalination processes has also prompted new monitoring techniques and associated numerical modeling efforts to predict HAB events, so plant engineers and operators can be better prepared to handle the negative effects of these bloom periods on plant operations [11,14]. Integrating online sensing systems-such as fluorescent light scattering (i.e., flow cytometry) and/or total organic carbon analyzers-with RO membranes also provides a direct way to both detect and assess the deleterious effects of HAB periods on permeate water quality [15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Investigation of Algal Biotoxin Removal during SWRO Desalination through a Materials Flow Analysis

Manheim

Jiang

2017

Water

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Abstract:The operation of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination facilities has become challenged by the increasing frequency and severity of harmful algal blooms (HABs). The efficiency of algal toxins removal during SWRO and pretreatment processes has critical human health implications. Therefore, a probabilistic materials flow analysis (pMFA) was developed to predict the removal of algal toxins in source water by various pretreatment configurations and operations during SWRO desalination. The results demonstrated that an appreciable quantity of toxins exists in the SWRO permeate (ng/L-µg/L levels), the backwash of pretreatment, and final brine rejects (µg/L-mg/L levels). Varying the pretreatment train configuration resulted in statistically significant differences in toxin removals, where higher removal efficiencies were evidenced in systems employing microfiltration/ultrafiltration (MF/UF) over granular media filtration (GMF). However, this performance depended on operational practices including coagulant addition and transmembrane pressures of MF/UF systems. Acute human health risks during lifetime exposure to algal toxins from ingestion of desalinated water were benign, with margins of safety ranging from 100 to 4000. This study highlights the importance of pretreatment steps during SWRO operation in the removal of algal toxins for managing marine HABs.

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Section: Contribution Of the Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Investigation of Algal Biotoxin Removal during SWRO Desalination through a Materials Flow Analysis

Manheim

Jiang

2017

Water

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“…From the perspective of seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO), algal blooms can adversely affect the operation of both pretreatment systems and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes [11][12][13]. AOM can strongly adhere to the surface or within the pores of micro-filtration and ultrafiltration (MF/UF) membranes in SWRO pretreatment causing irreversible fouling [14,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advanced characterization of dissolved organic matter released by bloom-forming marine algae

Rehman¹,

Jeong²,

Tabatabai³

et al. 2017

Desalination and Water Treatment

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a b s t r a c tAlgal organic matter (AOM), produced by marine phytoplankton during bloom periods, may adversely affect the performance of membrane processes in seawater desalination. The polysaccharide fraction of AOM has been related to (bio)fouling in micro-filtration and ultrafiltration, and reverse osmosis membranes. However, so far, the chemical structure of the polysaccharides released by bloom-forming algae is not well understood. In this study, dissolved fraction of AOM produced by three algal species (Chaetoceros affinis, Nitzschia epithemoides and Hymenomonas spp.) was characterized using liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) and fluorescence spectroscopy. Chemical structure of polysaccharides isolated from the AOM solutions at stationary phase was analyzed using proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H-NMR). The results showed that production and composition of dissolved AOM varied depending on algal species and their growth stage. AOM was mainly composed of biopolymers (BP; i.e., polysaccharides and proteins [PN]), but some refractory substances were also present. 1 H-NMR spectra confirmed the predominance of carbohydrates in all samples. Furthermore, similar fingerprints were observed for polysaccharides of two diatom species, which differed considerably from that of coccolithophores. Based on the findings of this study, 1 H-NMR could be used as a method for analyzing chemical profiles of algal polysaccharides to enhance the understanding of their impact on membrane fouling.

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Desert Dust as a Vector for Cyanobacterial Toxins

Metcalf

Chatziefthimiou

Souza

et al. 2021

The Arabian Seas: Biodiversity, Environmental Challenges and Conservation Measures

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Background: Brief Description of Deserts and Dust Storm FrontsDrylands, which make up 41-45% of the Earth's land area, are inhabited by 31% of the world's human population and are characterized by climatic forces which shape the physical environment and its biological life (UNCCD 2012;Prăvălie 2016; IPCC 2017;Maliva and Missimer, 2012). Although deserts were conceptualized singularly in the context of temperature maxima or lack of precipitation, aridity indices (AI) which take into consideration annual precipitation (P) and evapotranspiration (ET) potential are more accurate and efficient in describing deserts (UNESCO 1979; IPCC 2007 IPCC , 2017. This is because ET has an inherent co-linearity with additional climatic forces including temperature, wind speed, and Global Horizontal Irradiation (GHI). The water cycle, which influences soil type, vegetation cover and species abundance is factored in as well through incorporation of P in the aridity index (UNESCO 1979; IPCC 2007 IPCC , 2017.The Arabian Seas are surrounded by deserts in the hyper-arid (AI < 0.0) to arid (0.03 < AI < 0.20) continuum (MEA 2005; UNESCO 1979; UNCCD 2012), of yearly sums of GHI levels (2118-2775 kWh/m 2 ) comparable only to the Atacama (Chile and Peru), the driest hot desert in the world (Knight 2016; SSE 2017). These deserts also experience irregular rainfall of up to 80 mm on average per annum (hyper-arid) and between 80 and 350 mm on average per annum (arid), mainly occurring during the winter months when temperatures are low, with the exception

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Seawater reverse osmosis desalination and (harmful) algal blooms

Cited by 132 publications

References 158 publications

Investigation of Algal Biotoxin Removal during SWRO Desalination through a Materials Flow Analysis

Investigation of Algal Biotoxin Removal during SWRO Desalination through a Materials Flow Analysis

Advanced characterization of dissolved organic matter released by bloom-forming marine algae

Desert Dust as a Vector for Cyanobacterial Toxins

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