Ultrafiltration as pretreatment of seawater desalination: Critical flux, rejection and resistance analysis

Study of ceramic membrane behavior for okadaic acid and heavy-metal determination in filtered seawater

The performance of several MF and UF ceramic membranes that filter the seawater surrounding mussel rafts is studied for preventive detection of toxic episodes. The modified fouling index applied to UF membranes (MFI-UF) is used to compare fouling rates and membrane fouling levels. The reduction of several quality parameters such as turbidity, alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and chlorophyll content is explained by the higher quality of the UF rather than the MF permeates. Membrane rejection rates of Pb⁺² and okadaic acid, the main toxin that provokes toxic episodes due to bloom-forming algae, are measured under different pH and pressures. Measurements are taken particularly at filtration times before and after the formation of stable caking on the membrane surface. The results indicated that trace concentrations of heavy ions were mainly rejected by the membrane charge, until the saturation point was reached, and that no rejections occurred when the pH was lower than the isoelectric point of the membranes. However, most of the okadaic acid was rejected due to the formation of cake on the membrane surface. The rejection of okadaic acid depended on the membrane pore size and transmembrane pressure, yielding negative rejections under specific filtration conditions.

Membrane fouling by sodium alginate in high salinity conditions to simulate biofouling during seawater desalination

This study aims to better understand biofouling by algal organic matters (AOM) during seawater pretreatment by microfiltration (MF). To simulate AOM biofouling, sodium alginate (SA) solutions with three different concentrations (2, 20 and 50ppm) were filtered in dead-end mode with MF membrane. A modelling approach with blocking laws was used to identify the fouling mechanisms behind flux decline with time. The effect of SA concentration and cations such as Na⁺ (0.6M) and Ca²⁺ (0.015M) addition to SA solution on fouling mechanisms was studied. While for low SA concentration (2ppm), fouling occurs within two phases: a pore constriction phase followed by cake formation phase, for high SA concentration (50ppm), fouling occurs within only one phase controlled by cake formation. The addition of Na⁺ (0.6M) or Ca²⁺ (0.015M) to SA solution mitigates membrane fouling, however, the addition of both cations enhances fouling by formation of dense cake layer on membrane.

Optimization of gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration process for seawater pretreatment

Seawater pretreatment by gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration at 40 mbar has been investigated. In this system, a beneficial biofilm develops on the membrane that helps to stabilize flux. The effects of membrane type, prefiltration and system configuration on stable flux, biofilm layer properties and dissolved carbon removal were studied. The results show that the use of flat sheet PVDF membranes with pore sizes of 0.22 and 0.45 μm in GDM filtration achieved higher stabilized permeate fluxes (7.3-8.4 L/m(2)h) than that of flat sheet PES 100 kD membranes and hollow fibre PVDF 0.1 μm membranes. Pore constriction and cake filtration were identified as major membrane fouling mechanisms, but their relative contributions varied with filtration time for the various membranes. Compared to raw seawater, prefiltering of seawater with meshes at sizes of 10, 100 and 1000 μm decreased the permeate flux, which was attributed to removal of beneficial eukaryotic populations. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed that the porosity of the biofouling layer was more significantly related with permeate flux development rather than its thickness and roughness. To increase the contact time between the biofilm and the dissolved organics, a hybrid biofilm-submerged GDM reactor was evaluated, which displayed significantly higher permeate fluxes than the submerged GDM reactor. Although integrating the biofilm reactor with the membrane system displayed better permeate quality than the GDM filtration cells, it could not effectively reduce dissolved organic substances in the seawater. This may be attributed to the decomposition/degradation of solid organic substances in the feed and carbon fixation by the biofilm. Further studies of the dynamic carbon balance are required.

Seawater ultrafiltration: role of particles on organic rejections and permeate fluxes

The role of natural compounds of seawater and added particles on mechanisms of membrane fouling and organic matter rejection has been investigated. Ultrafiltration (100 kDa) has been conducted in both dead-end (out/in) and tangential (in/out) modes on polysulfone hollow fibre membranes. The permeate fluxes are approximately three times higher for tangential ultrafiltration than for dead-end ultrafiltration without differences between settled and non-settled seawaters (NS-SWs) (51-55 L h(-1) m(-2) for tangential and 17-22 L h(-1) m(-2) for dead-end ultrafiltration). Adding bentonite or kieselguhr from 0.13 to 1.13 g L(-1) of suspended solids to NS-SW does not act significantly on permeate fluxes of dead-end contrary to tangential ultrafiltration. For the latter, an addition of particles induces a slight drop of permeate fluxes. Original particles of reconstituted seawater could increase the cake porosity, whereas bentonite and kieselguhr, compounds smaller than original particles, could participate in the formation of a compact cake. The total organic carbon removal was equal to approximately 80% whatever the mode of ultrafiltration may be and the suspended solid concentration ranged from 0.13 to 1.13 g L(-1). Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and colloidal organic carbon rejection rates were greater for tangential ultrafiltration (37-49%) compared with dead-end ultrafiltration (30-44%) at different concentrations of added particles. Bentonite or kieselguhr addition induced a slight decrease of DOC removal. In the case of particles addition, the worst DOC rejection is found for bentonite.