Membrane Fouling Alleviation by Chemically Enhanced Backwashing in Treating Algae-Containing Surface Water: From Bench-Scale to Full-Scale Application

Ultrafiltration(UF)has been increasingly implemented in drinking water treatment plants;however,algae and their secretions can cause severe membrane fouling and pose great challenges to UF in practice.In this study,a simple and practical chemically enhanced backwashing(CEB)process was developed to address such issues using various cleaning reagents,including sodium hypochlorite(NaClO),sodium chloride(NaCl),sodium hydroxide(NaOH),sodium citrate,and their combinations.The results indicate that the type of chemical played a fundamental role in alleviating the hydraulically irreversible membrane fouling(HIMF),with NaClO as the best-performing reagent,followed by NaCl.Furthermore,a CEB process using a combination of NaClO with NaCl,NaOH,or sodium citrate delivered little improvement in the alleviation of membrane fouling compared with NaClO alone.The optimized dosage and dosing frequency of NaClO were 10 mg·L^(-1) two times per day.Long-term pilot-scale and full-scale experiments further verified the feasibility of the CEB process in relieving algae-derived membrane fouling.Compared with the conventional hydraulic backwashing without chemical involvement,the CEB process can effectively remove the organic foulants including biopolymers,humic substances,and proteinlike substances by means of oxidization,thereby weakening the cohesive forces between the organic foulants and the membrane surface.Therefore,the CEB process can efficiently alleviate the algae-related membrane fouling with lower chemical consumption,and is proposed as an alternative to control membrane fouling in treating the algae-containing surface water.

Fouling mechanisms in the early stage of an enhanced coagulation-ultrafiltration process

We investigated the fouling performances of ultrafiltration （UF） membrane for treating in-line coagulated water in an enhanced coagulation-UF hybrid process. Then we analyzed the fouling mechanisms in the early stage of UF using mathematical models and microscopy observation methods. Finally, we discussed the impact of aeration on membrane fouling in this paper. The results showed that a two-stage of trans-membrane pressure （-TMP） profile during the operation of enhanced coagulation-UF membrane was observed, and the relationship between permeability and operation time fitted well with a logarithmic curve. Membrane pores blocking and cake filtration were confirmed as main membrane fouling mechanisms using the mathematical models. The two stages of membrane fouling mechanisms were further deduced, namely, the membrane pore narrowing followed by the formation of cake layer. Membrane autopsy analysis using scanning electron microscopy （SEM） images of the membrane surface sampled from different filtration cycles also confirmed the mechanisms of pores blocking and cake filtration. Moreover, according to the variations of the permeability and membrane fouling resistance, aeration was able to mitigate and control the membrane fouling to a certain extent, but the optimization of aeration conditions still needs to be studied.

Towards a better hydraulic cleaning strategy for ultrafiltration membrane fouling by humic acid: Effect of backwash water composition

As a routine measurement to alleviate membrane fouling, hydraulic cleaning is of great significance for the steady operation of ultrafiltration（UF） systems in water treatment processes. In this work, a comparative study was performed to investigate the effects of the composition of backwash water on the hydraulic cleaning performance of UF membranes fouled by humic acid（HA）. Various types of backwash water, including UF permeate, Milli-Q water, Na Cl solution, CaCl_2 solution and HA solution, were compared in terms of hydraulically irreversible fouling index, total surface tension and residual HA. The results indicated that Milli-Q water backwash was superior to UF permeate backwash in cleaning HA-fouled membranes, and the backwash water containing Na＋or HA outperformed Milli-Q water in alleviating HA fouling. On the contrary, the presence of Ca^（2＋） in backwash water significantly decreased the backwash efficiency. Moreover, Ca^（2＋） played an important role in foulant removal, and the residual HA content closely related to the residual Ca^（2＋） content.Mechanism analysis suggested that the backwash process may involve fouling layer swelling, ion exchange, electric double layer release and competitive complexation. Ion exchange and competitive complexation played significant roles in the efficient hydraulic cleaning associated with Na＋and HA, respectively.