Specific location of encapsulated quorum quenching bacteria for biofouling control in an external submerged membrane bioreactor

Characterization of biofoulants illustrates different membrane fouling mechanisms for aerobic and anaerobic membrane bioreactors

“…One study showed that by encapsulating Rhodococcus sp. or recombinant E. coli in microbial vessels as a live source of quorum quenching inside the MBR, the emitted quorum quenchers were able to delay the occurrence of maximum TMP by up to a day as compared to the control AeMBR [61,64].…”

“…To compliment these methods, biological-based approaches can be used to further prolong membrane life in AeMBRs. Examples of such approaches include quenching of acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) and AI-2 signal molecules to inhibit cell-to-cell communication within the biofilm matrix and addition of enzymes to break down proteins and polysaccharides of the biofilm [61][62][63][64][65]. One study showed that by encapsulating Rhodococcus sp.…”

Membrane biofouling retardation and improved sludge characteristics using quorum quenching bacteria in submerged membrane bioreactor

“…N-acyle homoserine lactones (AHLs) based quorum sensing by gram negative bacteria are responsible for EPS production in activated sludge. Moreover, oligopeptides produced by gram positive bacteria and some universal autoinducers lead to the development of highly cooperative colonies in the form of biofilm over the membrane surface [13][14][15]. Therefore, it seems that a biological problem in the form of quorum sensing can only be dealt with a biological solution using quorum quenching (which is the disruption and hydrolyzation of signal molecules).…”

Quorum sensing based membrane biofouling control for water treatment: A review

“…In some of the studies, the bacteria which produce quorum quenching enzymes were contained within a hollow fiber membrane, with the result that the measured membrane biofouling was significantly reduced [84,89]. Recently, bacterial quorum quenching has been applied to the bioreactor system, which is seen to be more economical than enzymatic quorum quenching owing to the longer life span of the active agent and also because no purification step is required.…”

“…They revealed that an internal continuous submerged MBR (20 Lmh) containing the microbial-vessel had a much lower biofouling propensity (39 h to reach 25 kPa) compared to an MBR without the microbial vessel (28 h to reach 25 kPa). Furthermore, Jahangir et al [89] studied the optimum location of microbial-vessel in a submerged MBR (continuous MBR at 30 Lmh). For this purpose, they separated the membrane tank from the bioreactor of the MBR.…”