Effect of vacuum ultraviolet/ozone pretreatment on alleviation of ultrafiltration membrane fouling caused by algal extracellular and intracellular organic matter.

Algal blooms in source water can cause algal organic matter (AOM)-related membrane fouling in drinking water treatment. Herein, the effects of vacuum ultraviolet/ozone (VUV/O) pretreatment on alleviating ultrafiltration membrane fouling caused by AOM, including extracellular organic matter (EOM) and intracellular organic matter (IOM), were investigated systematically. Compared to its sub-processes (UV/O, O, VUV, and UV), VUV/O pretreatment showed the best performance on AOM removal and membrane fouling mitigation. After VUV/O pretreatment, the DOC of EOM and IOM in feed decreased by 51.1% and 26.7%, respectively, and fluorescence components and UV of EOM and IOM in feed decreased obviously. Hence, the final specific fluxes of the membranes increased significantly under the impacts of VUV/O, and VUV/O achieved 89.5% and 97.2% mitigation of reversible fouling caused by EOM and IOM, respectively. VUV/O pretreatment also reduced the foulants on membrane surface and surface roughness. Moreover, under the effects of reactive oxygen species oxidation, VUV photolysis, and direct O oxidation, VUV/O decreased organic load and changed the molecular weight distribution, hydrophilicity, and interaction-free energy of AOM, thus mitigating membrane fouling. Furthermore, the effects of O dosage and molecular weight cut-off of ultrafiltration membrane on membrane fouling mitigation by VUV/O were also investigated. All results highlighted that VUV/O pretreatment had huge potential in mitigating AOM-induced membrane fouling.