Effects of chlorine disinfection on the membrane fouling potential of bacterial strains isolated from fouled reverse osmosis membranes

The Science of the Total Environment
Yun-Hong WangHong-Ying Hu

Abstract

Biofouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes is an inevitable issue in wastewater reclamation and limits the application of RO systems. Chlorine disinfection is widely used as a pretreatment to control biofouling. However, the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and cellular inclusions released during chlorine disinfection might also cause membrane fouling. Furthermore, little is known regarding the chlorine resistance of bacterial strains found on fouled RO membranes. In this study, four bacterial strains isolated from fouled RO membranes were used as testing subjects to investigate the bacterial inactivation performance of chlorine disinfection. The effects of chlorine disinfection on the RO membrane fouling potential of these strains were also revealed. The chlorine resistance ability of Sphingopyxis sp. BM1-1 was strongest among the four strains as it secretes the highest amount of EPS per cell. The log inactivation efficiency of this strain was 1-log by 0.2 mg-Cl2/L in 30 min, which was one to three orders of magnitude lower than that of the other strains. Although chlorine disinfection inactivated most bacterial cells (>90%), the reaction with chlorine significantly increased the RO membrane fouling potential of all ...Continue Reading

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