Fouling of reverse osmosis membrane: Autopsy results from a wastewater treatment facility at central park, Sydney

Membrane fouling is an inevitable phenomenon and common issue in Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane systems used for water reclamation. Severe membrane fouling in RO system could consequently increases the operation cost as it requires frequent membrane chemical cleaning process thus consuming more chemical agents and shorten lifespan of RO membrane module. In this study, potential foulants of RO membranes that are used at Sydney's urban wastewater recycling facility which treated for domestic and commercial wastewaters, were investigated via membrane autopsy method. The three-year-old spiral wound RO membrane modules were taken from the site for membrane autopsy and to investigate major fouling factors as well as in-depth study of fouling mechanisms throughout various characterization methods. Additionally, a flux recovery rate of fouled RO membranes via the chemical cleaning was also examined using different kind of chemical cleaning agents to find a most effective chemical cleaning combination.