Membrane filtration is one of the effective approaches to harvest microalgae for industrial biofuel production.However,during the filtration process,microalgae cells and extracellular organic matter(EOM)will deposit o...Membrane filtration is one of the effective approaches to harvest microalgae for industrial biofuel production.However,during the filtration process,microalgae cells and extracellular organic matter(EOM)will deposit on the membrane surface leading to reversible membrane fouling that can be removed by physical methods.When hydrophobic EOM is adsorbed on the membrane surface or inside pores,it will build up a gel layer,causing irreversible membrane fouling.Irreversible fouling can only be removed using chemical methods that will decrease membrane lifespan and increase operational costs.Here,we introduce a versatile superhydrophilic membrane with photo-Fenton self-cleaning property,which can prevent the reversible fouling and remove the irreversible fouling.Tannic acid(TA)and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane(APTES)were co-deposited on the polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)membrane via Schiff base and Michael addition reactions,andβ-FeOOH nanorods were inlaid on the membrane surface by in situ mineralization.The water contact angle of the modified membrane is reduced from 120°to 0°Under 60 min visible light,the hydroxyl radical(·OH)generated by the photo-Fenton reaction degraded the irreversible fouling that blocked membrane pores.The irreversible fouling rates of modified membrane was reduced from 39.57%to 3.26%,compared with the original membrane.Microalgae harvesting results illustrated that the membrane has a high flux recovery rate(FRR)of 98.2%,showed excellent passive antifouling and active antifouling performance.We believe this work will spark a novel platform for optimizing energy-efficient microalgae harvesting separation membrane modules.In addition,this method of anti-fouling filtration for microorganisms can be extended to the industrial production of various bioenergy sources and will have very promising practical applications.展开更多
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 ...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.展开更多
基金supported by the Fujian Provincial Science and Technology Cooperation Project(No.20210002)National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31870994).
文摘Membrane filtration is one of the effective approaches to harvest microalgae for industrial biofuel production.However,during the filtration process,microalgae cells and extracellular organic matter(EOM)will deposit on the membrane surface leading to reversible membrane fouling that can be removed by physical methods.When hydrophobic EOM is adsorbed on the membrane surface or inside pores,it will build up a gel layer,causing irreversible membrane fouling.Irreversible fouling can only be removed using chemical methods that will decrease membrane lifespan and increase operational costs.Here,we introduce a versatile superhydrophilic membrane with photo-Fenton self-cleaning property,which can prevent the reversible fouling and remove the irreversible fouling.Tannic acid(TA)and 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane(APTES)were co-deposited on the polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)membrane via Schiff base and Michael addition reactions,andβ-FeOOH nanorods were inlaid on the membrane surface by in situ mineralization.The water contact angle of the modified membrane is reduced from 120°to 0°Under 60 min visible light,the hydroxyl radical(·OH)generated by the photo-Fenton reaction degraded the irreversible fouling that blocked membrane pores.The irreversible fouling rates of modified membrane was reduced from 39.57%to 3.26%,compared with the original membrane.Microalgae harvesting results illustrated that the membrane has a high flux recovery rate(FRR)of 98.2%,showed excellent passive antifouling and active antifouling performance.We believe this work will spark a novel platform for optimizing energy-efficient microalgae harvesting separation membrane modules.In addition,this method of anti-fouling filtration for microorganisms can be extended to the industrial production of various bioenergy sources and will have very promising practical applications.
基金The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(51778170)State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment(2020DX04)+1 种基金Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2019M651290)Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Science Foundation(LBH-Z19153).
文摘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.
