AI Article Synopsis
- This study identifies a specific group of substances in wastewater known as the "critical minority fraction (F)," which contributes significantly to membrane fouling, despite representing less than 20% of total dissolved organic carbon (DOC).
- F consists mainly of large molecules (>100 kDa) that are difficult to separate but account for over 90% of membrane fouling due to their strong attraction to membranes.
- The research proposes targeted strategies, like ozonation and coagulation, that can effectively reduce fouling by transforming or removing these critical foulants, thereby improving wastewater reclamation processes.
Article Abstract
In regard to membrane-based technologies of wastewater reclamation, the reported key foulants were faced with dilemma that they could not be effectively separated and extracted from reclaimed water for thorough investigation. In this study, the crucial foulants were proposed as "critical minority fraction (F)", representing the fraction with molecular weight (MW) > 100 kDa which could be easily separated by physical filtration using MW cut-off membrane of 100 kDa with fairly high recovery ratio. F with low dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration (∼1 mg/L) accounted for less than 20% of the total DOC in reclaimed water, while contributed to more than 90% of the membrane fouling, and thus F could be considered as a "perfect criminal" causing membrane fouling. Furthermore, pivotal fouling mechanism was attributed to the significant attractive force between F and membranes, which led to severe fouling development due to the aggregation of F on membrane surface. Fluorescent chromophores of F were concentrated in regions of proteins and soluble microbial products, with proteins and polysaccharides accounted for 45.2% and 25.1% of the total DOC, specifically. F was further fractionated into six fractions, among which hydrophobic acids and hydrophobic neutrals were the dominant components in terms of DOC content (∼80%) as well as fouling contribution. Regarding to these pronounced properties of F, targeted fouling control strategies including ozonation and coagulation were applied and proved to achieve remarkable fouling control effect. High-performance size-exclusion chromatography results suggested that ozonation achieved distinct transformation of F into low MW fractions, while coagulation removed F directly, thus leading to effective fouling alleviation. Therefore, the investigation of the critical foulants was expected to help glean valuable insight into the fouling mechanism and develop targeted fouling control technologies in practical applications.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.107818 | DOI Listing |
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