Impacts of Natural Organic Matter Adhesion on Irreversible Membrane Fouling during Surface Water Treatment Using Ultrafiltration

Elucidating the Mechanism of Electro-Adsorption on Electrically Conductive Ultrafiltration Membranes via Modified Poisson-Boltzmann Equation

Electrically conductive membranes (ECMs) were prepared by coating porous ethylenediamine-modified polyacrylonitrile (PAN-EDA) UF membranes with an ultrathin layer of platinum (Pt) nanoparticles through magnetron sputtering. These ECMs were used in electrofiltration to study the removal of brilliant blue dye from an aqueous solution under positive electrical potentials (0-2.5 V). Negative electrical potentials (-1.0--2.5 V) were also investigated to regenerate the membrane by desorbing the dye from the ECM surface. At +0 V, the EC PAN-EDA membrane adsorbed the dye due to its intrinsic positive charge. Application of -2.0 V resulted in a maximum of 39% desorption of the dye. A modified Poisson-Boltzmann (MPB) model showed that -2.0 V created a repulsive force within the first 24 nm of the membrane matrix, which had a minimal effect on dye ions adsorbed deeper within the membrane, thus limiting the electro-desorption efficiency to 39%. Moreover, increasing positive potentials from +0.5 V to +2.5 V led to increased dye electro-adsorption by 9.5 times, from 132 mg/m2 to 1112 mg/m2 at pH 8 (equivalent to the membrane's isoelectric point). The MBP simulations demonstrated that increasing electro-adsorption loadings are related to increasing attractive force, indicating electro-adsorption induced by attractive force is the dominant mechanism and the role of other mechanisms (e.g., electrochemical oxidation) is excluded. At pH 5, electro-adsorption further increased to 1390 mg/m2, likely due to the additional positive charge of the membrane (zeta potential = 9.2 mV) compared to pH 8. At pH 8, complete desorption of the dye from the ECM surface was achieved with a significant repulsive force at -2.0 V. However, as pH decreased from 8 to 5, the desorption efficiency decreased by 3.9% due to the membrane's positive charge. These findings help elucidate the mechanisms of electro-adsorption and desorption on ECMs using dye as a model for organic compounds like humic acids.

Unveiling the spatiotemporal dynamics of membrane fouling: A focused review on dynamic fouling characterization techniques and future perspectives

Membrane technology has emerged as a crucial method for obtaining clean water from unconventional sources in the face of water scarcity. It finds wide applications in wastewater treatment, advanced treatment, and desalination of seawater and brackish water. However, membrane fouling poses a huge challenge that limits the development of membrane-based water treatment technologies. Characterizing the dynamics of membrane fouling is crucial for understanding its development, mechanisms, and effective mitigation. Instrumental techniques that enable in situ or real-time characterization of the dynamics of membrane fouling provide insights into the temporal and spatial evolution of fouling, which play a crucial role in understanding the fouling mechanism and the formulation of membrane control strategies. This review consolidates existing knowledge about the principal advanced instrumental analysis technologies employed to characterize the dynamics of membrane fouling, in terms of membrane structure, morphology, and intermolecular forces. Working principles, applications, and limitations of each technique are discussed, enabling researchers to select appropriate methods for their specific studies. Furthermore, prospects for the future development of dynamic characterization techniques for membrane fouling are discussed, underscoring the need for continued research and innovation in this field to overcome the challenges posed by membrane fouling.

Quantitative Assessment of Interfacial Interactions Governing Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling by the Mixture of Silica Nanoparticles (SiO2 NPs) and Natural Organic Matter (NOM): Effects of Solution Chemistry

Mixtures of silica nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs) and natural organic matter (NOM) are ubiquitous in natural aquatic environments and pose risks to organisms. Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes can effectively remove SiO₂ NP-NOM mixtures. However, the corresponding membrane fouling mechanisms, particularly under different solution conditions, have not yet been studied. In this work, the effect of solution chemistry on polyethersulfone (PES) UF membrane fouling caused by a SiO₂ NP-NOM mixture was investigated at different pH levels, ionic strengths, and calcium concentrations. The corresponding membrane fouling mechanisms, i.e., Lifshitz-van der Waals (LW), electrostatic (EL), and acid-base (AB) interactions, were quantitatively evaluated using the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (xDLVO) theory. It was found that the extent of membrane fouling increased with decreasing pH, increasing ionic strength, and increasing calcium concentration. The attractive AB interaction between the clean/fouled membrane and foulant was the major fouling mechanism in both the initial adhesion and later cohesion stages, while the attractive LW and repulsive EL interactions were less important. The change of fouling potential with solution chemistry was negatively correlated with the calculated interaction energy, indicating that the UF membrane fouling behavior under different solution conditions can be effectively explained and predicted using the xDLVO theory.

Designing sustainable membrane-based water treatment via fouling control through membrane interface engineering and process developments

Membrane-based water treatment processes have been established as a powerful approach for clean water production. However, despite the significant advances made in terms of rejection and flux, provision of sustainable and energy-efficient water production is restricted by the inevitable issue of membrane fouling, known to be the major contributor to the elevated operating costs due to frequent chemical cleaning, increased transmembrane resistance, and deterioration of permeate flux. This review provides an overview of fouling control strategies in different membrane processes, such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, membrane bioreactors, and desalination via reverse osmosis and forward osmosis. Insights into the recent advancements are discussed and efforts made in terms of membrane development, modules arrangement, process optimization, feed pretreatment, and fouling monitoring are highlighted to evaluate their overall impact in energy- and cost-effective water treatment. Major findings in four key aspects are presented, including membrane surface modification, modules design, process integration, and fouling monitoring. Among the above mentioned anti-fouling strategies, a large part of research has been focused on membrane surface modifications using a number of anti-fouling materials whereas much less research has been devoted to membrane module advancements and in-situ fouling monitoring and control. At the end, a critical analysis is provided for each anti-fouling strategy and a rationale framework is provided for design of efficient membranes and process for water treatment.

Membrane-organic solute interactions in asymmetric flow field flow fractionation: Interplay of hydrodynamic and electrostatic forces

The structure and size characterization of organic matter (OM) using flow field-flow fractionation (FFFF) is interesting due to the numerous interactions of OM in aquatic systems and water treatment processes. The estimation of hydrodynamic and electrostatic forces involved in the fractionation of OM over different molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) membranes is vital for a better understanding of the FFFF process. This work aims to understand the membrane-OM interactive forces with respect to membrane MWCO, solute molecular weight, flow rates, solution pH and ionic strength. Polystyrene sulfonate sodium salt (PSS) of molecular weights 10, 30 and 65 kDa were used as model organic solutes for fractionation over ultrafiltration (UF) membranes of MWCO 1-30 kDa. Maximum fractionation of PSS was achieved by using a tight membrane of 1 kDa MWCO at the conditions of high permeate flow rate (1.5-2.0 mL·min^-1), low concentrate flow rate (0.2-0.3 mL·min^-1) and low ionic strength (10 mM). The better fractionation corresponds to high permeate drag force and low concentrate drag force. A low membrane-solute DLVO interaction is favourable for the retention of a small solute. This study illustrated that FFFF characteristics can be analyzed based on membrane-solute interactive forces controlled by selected flow, size and charge parameters.

Electrospun Silica-Polyacrylonitrile Nanohybrids for Water Treatments

In this work, the removal of NOM (natural organic matter) as represented by humic acid by means of electrospun nanofiber adsorptive membranes (ENAMs) is described. Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) was used for the preparation of ENAMs incorporating silica nanoparticles as adsorbents. The addition of silica to the polymer left visible changes on the structural morphology and fibers' properties of the membrane. The membrane samples were characterized by pure water permeability, contact angle measurement, SEM, XPS, and XRD. This study assesses the preliminary performance of PAN-Si membranes for the removal of natural organic matter (NOM). The membrane rejected the humic acid, a surrogate of NOM, from 69.57% to 87.5%.

Unraveling pH Effects on Ultrafiltration Membrane Fouling by Extracellular Polymeric Substances: Adsorption and Conformation Analyzed with Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) can conform and orient on the surface according to the applied aquatic conditions. While pH elevation usually removes EPSs from membranes, small changes in pH can change the adsorbed EPS conformation and orientation, resulting in a decrease in membrane permeability. Accordingly, EPS layers were tested with localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensing and quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) using a hybrid sensor. A novel membrane-mimetic hybrid QCM-D-LSPR sensor was designed to indicate both "dry" mass and mechanical load ("wet" mass) of the adsorbed EPS. The effect of pH on the EPS layer's viscoelastic properties and hydrated thickness analyzed by QCM-D corroborates with the shift in EPS areal concentration, Γ_S, and the associated EPS conformation, analyzed by LSPR. As pH elevates, the processes of (i) elevation in EPS layer's thickness (QCM-D) and (ii) decrease in the EPS areal density, Γ_S (LSPR), provide a clear indication for changes in EPS conformation, which decrease the effective ultrafiltration (UF) membrane pore diameter. This decrease in the pore diameter together with the increase in surface hydrophobicity elevates UF membrane hydraulic resistance.

Photocatalytic TiO2@MIL-88A (Fe)/polyacrylonitrile mixed matrix membranes: Characterization, anti-fouling properties, and performance on the removal of natural organic matter

Photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs), coupling photocatalysts and membranes in a single system, have shown a considerable potential to reduce membrane fouling, which is one of the major drawbacks of using membranes to treat water and wastewater. In this study, the visible light-activated photocatalysts were incorporated into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) casting solution to synthesize the photocatalytic composite membranes. The physicochemical properties and the morphology of the membranes and photocatalysts were characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-visible DRS), photoluminescence (PL), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), porosimetry, and contact angle analyses. The performance of the synthesized photocatalytic mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) in treating water containing humic acid, as one of the major components in natural organic matter (NOM) existing in drinking water sources, was investigated. Under visible light irradiation, the PAN/TiO₂@MIL-88A (Fe) MMMs simultaneously adopted photocatalysis and membrane separation in the PMR and thereby enhanced humic acid removal and anti-fouling properties. The best synthesized photocatalytic membrane could remove 92.4% of the humic acid once exposed to visible light. The optimum membrane had suitable water permeability, a high flux recovery ratio (99.5%), and a 13.5% decline in the humic acid flux after a 10-h run, considerably lower compared to the corresponding decline of the pristine membrane (37.5% over the same period). The remarkable properties of the PAN/TiO₂@MIL-88A (Fe) membrane, including its high anti-fouling specification, confirm the appropriateness of the synthesized MMM for treating water involving humic acid.