TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of biofilm inhibitor on biofouling resistance in RO processes
AU - Kim, Han Shin
AU - Lee, Ji Yoon
AU - Ham, So Young
AU - Lee, Jeung Hoon
AU - Park, Jeong Hoon
AU - Park, Hee Deung
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Korea Ministry of Environment, South Korea as ‘‘Public Technology Program based on Environmental Policy” (grant number E416-00070-0604-0 ]) and Korea University grant .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/10/1
Y1 - 2019/10/1
N2 - Biofouling is a major operational problem in reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Numerous studies have focused on the control of biofouling using physical and chemical cleaning methods. However, irreversible biofouling, wherein a biofilm adheres firmly to an RO membrane surface, is hard to remove by physical and chemical cleaning methods. Irreversible biofouling originated from the formation of microbial biofilms, which comprised microbial cells and their self-produced extracellular polymeric substances. In this study, we tried to control irreversible biofouling by using a biofilm inhibitor in the RO process. Prior to testing, biofouling was classified into reversible and irreversible biofouling resistance, through laboratory scale RO unit operations under enhanced biofouling conditions. A tightly attached biofilm, which assumed to be caused by irreversible biofouling resistance, emerges after 30 h of laboratory scale RO operation. We have tested the inhibition of irreversible biofouling by using 4-NPO as a quorum sensing inhibitor. The microbial biofilm formation was found to be reduced 46 – 91% by 4-NPO in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting the microbial growth. In addition, irreversible biofouling on the RO membrane was reduced 36 – 67% by 4-NPO in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, 4-NPO was able to decrease the irreversible biofouling resistance, instead of the reversible biofouling resistance, in laboratory scale RO units. The results of this study clearly demonstrated that 4-NPO was an effective biofilm inhibitor that could reduce the biofouling, especially, irreversible biofouling, in RO processes.
AB - Biofouling is a major operational problem in reverse osmosis (RO) processes. Numerous studies have focused on the control of biofouling using physical and chemical cleaning methods. However, irreversible biofouling, wherein a biofilm adheres firmly to an RO membrane surface, is hard to remove by physical and chemical cleaning methods. Irreversible biofouling originated from the formation of microbial biofilms, which comprised microbial cells and their self-produced extracellular polymeric substances. In this study, we tried to control irreversible biofouling by using a biofilm inhibitor in the RO process. Prior to testing, biofouling was classified into reversible and irreversible biofouling resistance, through laboratory scale RO unit operations under enhanced biofouling conditions. A tightly attached biofilm, which assumed to be caused by irreversible biofouling resistance, emerges after 30 h of laboratory scale RO operation. We have tested the inhibition of irreversible biofouling by using 4-NPO as a quorum sensing inhibitor. The microbial biofilm formation was found to be reduced 46 – 91% by 4-NPO in a concentration-dependent manner without affecting the microbial growth. In addition, irreversible biofouling on the RO membrane was reduced 36 – 67% by 4-NPO in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, 4-NPO was able to decrease the irreversible biofouling resistance, instead of the reversible biofouling resistance, in laboratory scale RO units. The results of this study clearly demonstrated that 4-NPO was an effective biofilm inhibitor that could reduce the biofouling, especially, irreversible biofouling, in RO processes.
KW - 4-NPO
KW - Biofilm inhibitor
KW - Biofouling
KW - Biofouling resistance
KW - Quorum sensing inhibition
KW - RO process
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85065841300&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.fuel.2019.05.062
DO - 10.1016/j.fuel.2019.05.062
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85065841300
SN - 0016-2361
VL - 253
SP - 823
EP - 832
JO - Fuel
JF - Fuel
ER -