Beneficial impacts of natural biopolymers during surface water purification by membrane nanofiltration

WATER RESEARCH

卷:201

Article

Su, Zhaoyang^1,2,3  Liu, Ting⁴  Li, Xing³  Graham, Nigel²  Yu, Wenzheng^1,2 

[1] Chinese Acad Sci, Res Ctr Ecoenvironm Sci, State Key Lab Environm Aquat Chem, Beijing 100085, Peoples R China

[2] Imperial Coll London, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, England

[3] Beijing Univ Technol, Coll Architecture & Civil Engn, Beijing 100024, Peoples R China

[4] Beijing Inst Technol, Sch Chem & Chem Engn, Beijing 100081, Peoples R China

关键词: Surface waters;    Natural organic matter;    Biopolymers;    Nanofiltration;    Fouling control;    Seasonal changes;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.watres.2021.117330

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Membrane filtration in various forms has become an increasingly used treatment method worldwide for the supply of safe drinking water. The fouling of membranes is commonly considered to be the major operational limitation to its wider application since it leads to frequent backwashing and a shortening of membrane life, and increased production costs. The components of natural organic matter (NOM) in surface waters have been reported previously to be important foulants of nanofiltration (NF) membranes, however, the potential beneficial effect of particular components of these 'foulants' has not been investigated or demonstrated to date. In this study, we have considered the roles of different organic materials including autochthonous NOM (e.g., biopolymers) and allochthonous NOM (e.g., humic substances) on the fouling of NF membranes by bench-scale tests with samples of two representative source waters (UK) taken in two different seasons (autumn and winter). Microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) were employed to generate two permeates, between which the presence of biopolymers (30 kDa - 90 kDa) is the major difference. We developed sequential filtration (MF/UFNF) to investigate biopolymers' behaviours in NF process. The results showed that the accumulation of biopolymers on NF membranes can mitigate fouling by providing a protective layer in which medium-low molecular weight (MW) materials (e.g. humic substances) are separated by adsorption and/or size exclusion. The protective layers assisted by biopolymers were seen to be thicker under scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation and characterized by higher roughness (i.e. three-dimensional, spacial structure) and greater adsorptive capacity. Moreover, improvement on NF membrane fouling mitigation could be more significant in autumn, comparing to that in winter. The findings in this study were found to be repeatable in similar tests with samples of comparable raw waters in China, and will be important to the practical application of NF membrane systems in terms of a new approach to combating fouling in long-term operation.

【 授权许可】

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