The influence of particles on Biofouling behavior in spiral wound membrane elements

“Spiral-wound membrane (SWM) elements for nanofi ltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO)
need pre-treatment to prevent clogging of the feed spacer channel by particles and/or biomass.
Usually rapid sand fi ltration or ultrafi ltration is applied for this purpose. The effect of (the
removal of) particles on biofouling processes in spiral-wound membrane (SWM) elements was
investigated in this work by using a pilot set-up consisting of three parallel SWM elements.
Local tap water supplemented with acetate to promote biofouling was fed to (i) a reference
element, (ii) an element with one hour of daily dosing of copper sulfate to control biofouling
and (iii) a third element with an additional pre-fi ltration to eliminate particles from the feed
water of the element. The additional fi lter element behaved similarly to the reference element
with respect to membrane transfer coeffi cient (MTC) decrease and pressure drop increase. Also
results for membrane autopsy for biological and organic parameters were similar. The results
demonstrated that the applied particle removal did not have a signifi cant effect on the biofouling
behavior in SWRO elements.”

(Citaat: Cornelissen, E.R., Berteloot, A., etal. – The influence of particles on Biofouling behavior in spiral wound membrane elements – Desalination and Water Treatment 34(2011)1-3, p.112-116)