Pilot-Scale Assessment of Urea as a Chemical Cleaning Agent for Biofouling Control in Spiral-Wound Reverse Osmosis Membrane Elements.
Type
ArticleAuthors
Sanawar, HumaBucs, Szilárd S
Pot, Martin A
Zlopasa, Jure
Farhat, Nadia

Witkamp, Geert Jan

Kruithof, Joop C
van Loosdrecht, Mark C M
Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S.

KAUST Department
Environmental Science and Engineering ProgramKing Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)
KAUST Grant Number
BAS/1/1024-01-01Date
2019-09-06Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/656809
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Show full item recordAbstract
Routine chemical cleaning with the combined use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrochloric acid (HCl) is carried out as a means of biofouling control in reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. The novelty of the research presented herein is in the application of urea, instead of NaOH, as a chemical cleaning agent to full-scale spiral-wound RO membrane elements. A comparative study was carried out at a pilot-scale facility at the Evides Industriewater DECO water treatment plant in the Netherlands. Three fouled 8-inch diameter membrane modules were harvested from the lead position of one of the full-scale RO units treating membrane bioreactor (MBR) permeate. One membrane module was not cleaned and was assessed as the control. The second membrane module was cleaned by the standard alkali/acid cleaning protocol. The third membrane module was cleaned with concentrated urea solution followed by acid rinse. The results showed that urea cleaning is as effective as the conventional chemical cleaning with regards to restoring the normalized feed channel pressure drop, and more effective in terms of (i) improving membrane permeability, and (ii) solubilizing organic foulants and the subsequent removal of the surface fouling layer. Higher biomass removal by urea cleaning was also indicated by the fact that the total organic carbon (TOC) content in the HCl rinse solution post-urea-cleaning was an order of magnitude greater than in the HCl rinse after standard cleaning. Further optimization of urea-based membrane cleaning protocols and urea recovery and/or waste treatment methods is proposed for full-scale applications.Citation
Sanawar, H., Bucs, S. S., Pot, M. A., Zlopasa, J., Farhat, N. M., Witkamp, G.-J., … Vrouwenvelder, J. S. (2019). Pilot-Scale Assessment of Urea as a Chemical Cleaning Agent for Biofouling Control in Spiral-Wound Reverse Osmosis Membrane Elements. Membranes, 9(9), 117. doi:10.3390/membranes9090117Sponsors
The authors extend their gratitude to the plant operators at Evides Industriewater DECO plant for their assistance.Funding: This research was funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under grant number BAS/1/1024-01-01, and by Evides Industriewater. The APC was funded by TU Delft.
Publisher
MDPI AGJournal
MembranesAdditional Links
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0375/9/9/117ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.3390/membranes9090117
Scopus Count
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