Fouling investigation of a full-scale seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWRO) plant on the Red Sea: Membrane autopsy and pretreatment efficiency
Type
ArticleAuthors
Fortunato, Luca
Alshahri, Abdullah

Farinha, Andreia S.F.
Zakzouk, Islam
Jeong, Sanghyun
Leiknes, TorOve

KAUST Department
Water Desalination and Reuse Research Center (WDRC)Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) Division
Date
2020-06-10Online Publication Date
2020-06-10Print Publication Date
2020-12Embargo End Date
2022-06-10Submitted Date
2020-03-31Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/663579
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In this study, the membrane autopsy was performed on a full-scale seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant located on the Red Sea. Several techniques were employed to characterize the nature and the fate of the foulants in the process, including LCOCD, ICP-MS, SEM-EDS, TSS, and ATP. The efficiency of the pretreatment in removing the fouling potential was assessed by analyzing the seawater after the intake feed pump, after the spruce media filter (SMF) and after the cartridge filter (CF). The autopsy of the membrane modules and CF operated for long-term revealed the presence of a heterogeneous fouling layer. The organic fraction composition of the fouling layer depended on the module position in the vessel. The inorganic deposits embedded in the layer were mainly composed of aluminum, iron, and magnesium silicate. The inorganic sediments entered the plants from the shoreline seawater intake and accumulated on the CF filter and the membrane. The analysis of the pretreatment performance showed an increase of TSS and ATP after CF, highlighting the inappropriate CF filter replacement time.Citation
Fortunato, L., Alshahri, A. H., Farinha, A. S. F., Zakzouk, I., Jeong, S., & Leiknes, T. (2020). Fouling investigation of a full-scale seawater reverse osmosis desalination (SWRO) plant on the Red Sea: Membrane autopsy and pretreatment efficiency. Desalination, 114536. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2020.114536Sponsors
The research reported in this publication was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).Publisher
Elsevier BVJournal
DesalinationAdditional Links
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0011916420306573ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1016/j.desal.2020.114536