scholarly journals Fouling behaviour of a reverse osmosis membrane by three types of surfactants

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoyuki Kishimoto ◽  
Honami Kimura

The fouling behaviour of a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane by three types of surfactants and a countermeasure to the fouling were studied. The filtration experiments showed that the permeability during filtration depended on the surfactant concentration and the charge of surfactant. Higher surfactant concentration deteriorated the permeability due to the concentration polarization. A negatively charged anionic surfactant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), had less influence on the permeability than cationic and non-ionic surfactants. As the RO membrane used in this research had a hydrophilic and negatively charged membrane surface, adsorption of the anionic surfactant was prevented by the electrostatic force between the membrane surface and the hydrophilic group of the surfactant. To control the fouling by the cationic and non-ionic surfactants, addition of SLS to the surfactant solution was tested. Consequently, the addition of excess SLS changed the surface charge of aggregates into more negative value and the permeability during filtration was successfully improved. Furthermore, the drop in pure water permeability after filtration was not observed by the addition of excess SLS. Thus, the modification of charge of solutes to the same sign of the membrane surface charge was thought to be useful to control a membrane fouling by surfactants.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 1553-1559 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takahiro Fujioka ◽  
Long D. Nghiem

The use of heat treatment to improve solute rejection and fouling resistance of a polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was investigated in this study. Heat treatment was carried out by immersing the membrane samples in Milli-Q water at 70 °C for a specific duration. Heat treatment (24 h) reduced the pure water permeability from 4.1 to 2.8 L/m2hbar but improved conductivity rejection from 95.5 to 97.0%. As a result, a correlation was observed between changes in the two parameters. Marginal changes in the membrane surface characteristics (i.e. zeta potential, hydrophobicity, chemistry and roughness) were observed as a result of heat treatment. Heat treatment significantly improved the fouling resistance property of the RO membrane. When the secondary effluent was filtrated at an elevated permeated flux, the virgin RO membrane exhibited 30% flux decline while the heat-treated membrane showed only 12% flux decline. This is possibly because heat treatment resulted in a denser cross-linked active skin layer, thus reducing the blockage caused by small organic foulants.


2000 ◽  
Vol 122 (4) ◽  
pp. 708-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. M. Wasekar ◽  
R. M. Manglik

Saturated nucleate pool boiling of aqueous surfactant solutions on a horizontal cylindrical heater has been experimentally investigated. Sodium dodecyl or lauryl sulfate (SDS or SLS), an anionic surfactant, is employed. Boiling performance, relative to that for pure water, is found to be enhanced significantly by the presence of SDS, with an early onset of nucleate boiling. An optimum level of enhancement is observed in solutions at or near critical micelle concentration of the surfactant; the enhancement, however, decreases considerably in higher concentration solutions. The dynamic surface tension measurements indicate a substantial influence of temperature on the overall adsorption isotherm. The diffusion kinetics of surfactant molecules and micelles is, therefore, expected to be quite different at boiling temperature than at room temperature. This greatly modifies the boiling mechanism that is generally characterized by the formation of smaller-size bubbles with increased departure frequencies, and a decreased tendency to coalesce which causes considerable foaming. [S0022-1481(00)00704-0]


2016 ◽  
Vol 499 ◽  
pp. 257-268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaohuan Mai ◽  
Vincent Butin ◽  
Mohammed Rakib ◽  
Haochen Zhu ◽  
Murielle Rabiller-Baudry ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Seungjae Oh ◽  
Semyung Wang ◽  
Minkyu Park ◽  
Joonha Kim

The objective of this study is to design spacers using fluid topology optimization in 2D crossflow Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane channel to improve the performance of RO processes. This study is an initial attempt to apply topology optimization to designing spacers in RO membrane channel. The performance was evaluated by the quantity of permeate flux penetrating both upper and lower membrane surfaces. A coupled Navier-Stokes and Convection-Diffusion model was employed to calculate the permeate flux. To get reliable solutions, stabilization methods were employed with standard finite element method. The nine reference models which consist of the combination of circle, rectangular, triangle shape and zigzag, cavity, submerge configuration of spacers were simulated. Such models were compared with new model designed by topology optimization. The permeate flux at both membrane surfaces was determined as an objective function. In addition, permissible pressure drop along the channel and spacer volume were used as constraints. As a result of topology optimization as the permissible pressure drop changes in channel, characteristics of spacer design development was founded. Spacer design based on topology optimization was reconstructed to a simple one considering manufactuability and characteristics of development spacer design. When a simplified design was compared with previous 9 models, new design has a better performance in terms of permeate flux and wall concentration at membrane surface.


2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Jun Qin ◽  
Boris Liberman ◽  
Kiran A. Kekre ◽  
Ado Gossan

Reverse osmosis (RO) has been widely applied in various water and wastewater treatment processes as a promising membrane technology. However, RO membrane fouling is a global issue, which limits it operating flux, decreases water production, increases power consumption and requires periodical membranes Cleaning-in-Place (CIP) procedure. This may result in low effectiveness, high cost and adds environmental issues related to the CIP solutions disposal. Forward osmosis (FO) or direct osmosis (DO) is the transport of water across a semi-permeable membrane from higher water chemical potential side to lower water chemical potential side, which phenomenon was observed in 1748. The engineered applications of FO/DO in membrane separation processes have been developed in food processing, wastewater treatment and seawater/brackish water desalination. In recent years, DO has been increasingly attractive for RO fouling control as it is highly efficient and environmentally friendly technique which is a new backwash technique via interval DO by intermittent injection of the high salinity solution without stoppage of high pressure pump or interruption of the operational process and allows keeping RO membrane continuously clean even in heavy bio-fouling conditions and operating RO membranes at high flux. This paper provides the state-of-the-art of the physical principles and applications of DO for RO fouling control as well as its strengths and limitations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 174-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Lunevich ◽  
P. Sanciolo ◽  
A. Smallridge ◽  
S. R. Gray

Silica scale formation on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane surface is a significant problem for operation of high recovery RO desalination plant.


REAKTOR ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
I.N. Widiasa ◽  
I Gede Wenten

An integrated membrane system combining reverse osmosis (RO) and electrodeionization (EDI) is used for simultaneous sugar concentration and salts removal from a synthetic dilute sugar solution as a model of sugar-containing wastewater. The RO system uses a thin film composite RO membrane (Saehan CSM, RE1812-60). Meanwhile, the EDI stack has two diluted compartments, one concentrated compartment, one anode compartment, and one cathode compartment. Commercially available cation exchange membrane (MC-3470) and anion exchange membrane (MA-3475) are used as ionic selective barriers of the EDI stack. Both diluate and concentrate compartments are filled with mixed ion exchange resins (purolite strong acid cation exchange, C-100E and strong base type I anion resins, A-400). Two different operation modes, i.e. RO-EDI and EDI-RO, were assessed. The experimental results show that the observed sugar rejection of RO membrane is more than 99.9% and there is no sugar loss in the EDI stack. This indicates that the hybrid process allows almost total sugar recovery. In addition, significant reduction of salts content from the concentrated sugar solution is obtained. From permeate flux and permeate purity points of view, however, the EDI-RO configuration seems superior to the RO-EDI configuration. It should be emphasized that scale formation on the membrane surface of the concentrate compartment side has to be controlled.


2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 159-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.-W. Myung ◽  
I.-H. Choi ◽  
S.-H. Lee ◽  
I.-C. Kim ◽  
K.-H. Lee

Dyeing wastewater was post-treated by using nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. To reduce membrane fouling, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with a neutral charge was coated on NF and RO membranes. The effect of surface charge and surface roughness on membrane fouling was investigated. Dyeing wastewater was pre-treated by using coagulation, activated sludge process, and MF process to investigate the effect of the pre-treatment on the membrane fouling. It is demonstrated that the extent of fouling is significantly influenced by the surface roughness and the surface charge on the NF and RO membranes. A membrane with a smooth and neutral surface was fouled less. The pre-treatment was essential for avoiding NF and RO membranes fouling. The quality of the final permeate was acceptable for water reuse.


Membranes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 323
Author(s):  
Nelisa Ncumisa Gaxela ◽  
Philiswa Nosizo Nomngongo ◽  
Richard Motlhaletsi Moutloali

The zwitterion poly-(maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecene-3-(dimethylamino)-1-propylamine) (p(MAO-DMPA)) synthesized using a ring-opening reaction was used as a poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane modifier/additive during phase inversion process. The zwitterion was characterized using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). Atomic force microscopy (AFM), field emission scanning electron microscope (SEM), FTIR, and contact angle measurements were taken for the membranes. The effect of the zwitterionization content on membrane performance indicators such as pure water flux, membrane fouling, and dye rejection was investigated. The morphology of the membranes showed that the increase in the zwitterion amount led to a general decrease in pore size with a concomitant increase in the number of membrane surface pores. The surface roughness was not particularly affected by the amount of the additive; however, the internal structure was greatly influenced, leading to varying rejection mechanisms for the larger dye molecule. On the other hand, the wettability of the membranes initially decreased with increasing content to a certain point and then increased as the membrane homogeneity changed at higher zwitterion percentages. Flux and fouling properties were enhanced through the addition of zwitterion compared to the pristine PVDF membrane. The high (>90%) rejection of anionic dye, Congo red, indicated that these membranes behaved as ultrafiltration (UF). In comparison, the cationic dye, rhodamine 6G, was only rejected to <70%, with rejection being predominantly electrostatic-based. This work shows that zwitterion addition imparted good membrane performance to PVDF membranes up to an optimum content whereby membrane homogeneity was compromised, leading to poor performance at its higher loading.


2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 473-482 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.R. Bartels ◽  
M. Wilf ◽  
K. Andes ◽  
J. Iong

Reverse Osmosis is finding increasing use for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters due to the growing demand for high quality water in large urban areas. The growing success of membranes in this application is related to improved process designs and improved membrane products. Key factors which have been determined to result in successful operation of large-scale plants will be discussed. Factors which play a key role in the use of RO membranes include ultra or microfiltration pretreatment, low fouling membranes, flux rate, recovery and control of fouling and scaling. In particular, high flux rates can be used when UF or MF pretreatment is used. These technologies remove most of the suspended particles that would normally cause heavy fouling of lead elements. Typically, fluxes in the range of 17–21 lmh lead to cleaning frequencies in the range of 3–4 months. By combining the use of membrane pretreatment and chloramination of the feed water through chlorine addition, two of the primary sources of RO membrane fouling can be controlled. The use of chloramine has become a proven means to control biofouling in a membrane for wastewater applications. The other significant problems for RO membranes result from organics fouling by dissolved organics and scaling due to saturation of marginally soluble salts. The former can be a significant problem for membranes, due to the strong attraction forces. To some extent, these can be mitigated by making the membrane surface more hydrophilic or changing the charge of the membrane surface. To minimize fouling, many plants are turning to low fouling membranes. Extensive studies have demonstrated that the membrane surface is hydrophilic, neutrally charged over a broad pH range, and more resistant to organic adsorption. Also, an analysis of the potential scaling issues will be reviewed. In particular, calcium phosphate has been found to be one of the key scalants that will limit RO system recovery rate. Calcium phosphate concentrations can reach high values in many wastewaters, and scaling of this compound is not often modeled in most RO projection software. Various process options will be presented to evaluate the most economic means of avoiding phosphate scaling. Finally, data from major RO wastewater treatment plants will be presented to show how the RO membranes operate under actual conditions, utilizing many of these design features. Long term data from the 2.6 mgd Bedok demonstration Plant demonstrate that the RO membranes operate consistently on wastewater. Experiences from the 8.5 mgd (32,000 m3/day) Bedok and 10.5 mgd (40,000 m3/day) Kranji plants will also be presented. These large plants started operation in the fall of 2002 and have demonstrated an effective means to reclaim high quality water from difficult source waters, such as municipal wastewaters.


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