Physico-chemical pretreatment to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO): organic characterization and membrane autopsy

Shon, HK; Vigneswaran, S; Zareie, MH; Aim, RB; Lee, E; Lee, J; Cho, J; Kim, IS

Physico-chemical pretreatment to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO): organic characterization and membrane autopsy

Shon, HK

Vigneswaran, S

Zareie, MH Aim, RB Lee, E Lee, J Cho, J Kim, IS

Permalink

Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Desalination, 2009, 236 (1-3), pp. 282 - 290
Issue Date:: 2009-01-31

Open Access

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Open Access

This item is open access.

Adobe PDF

Download full textAdobe PDF (693.24 kB)

View on publisher's site

View statistics

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Shon, HK https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3777-7169	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Vigneswaran, S https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8117-4322	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Zareie, MH	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Aim, RB	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lee, E	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Lee, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Cho, J	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Kim, IS	en_US
dc.date.issued	2009-01-31	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Desalination, 2009, 236 (1-3), pp. 282 - 290	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0011-9164	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9211
dc.description.abstract	In this study, different pretreatment methods such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption and ferric chloride (FeCl3) flocculation were evaluated in terms of their capability in removing seawater organic matter (SWOM) and the characteristics of the foulants on the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membranes. A detailed experiment with a crossflow SWRO filtration unit was conducted with SR membrane (MWCO 100 Da) at 60 bar with seawater (conductivity = 48.9 mS/cm) drawn from south-western Korea. The SWOM removal by UF, NF, PAC adsorption and FeCl3 flocculation was 20.3, 28.9, 46 and 23.3%, respectively. SWOM used in this study predominantly consisted of small size organic matter (<1000 Da). A large amount of the hydrophobic fraction present in SWOM was removed by PAC adsorption. The SDI5min significantly decreased from 12.7 (without any pretreatment) to 3.2 (MF), 1.3 (UF), 1.0 (NF) and 4.4 (PAC adsorption). RO filtration of seawater with and without pretreatment showed significant flux decline (normalized flux decline (J/J0) = 0.17 ± 0.02) within 20-h operation. The elemental analyses made on the RO surface after direct RO filtration showed that the relative fraction of the carbon decreased, while sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), chlorine (Cl) and iron (Fe) elements were found in the foulants extracted from the fouled membrane surface. The average roughness of the clean membrane surface was 41.5 nm. After MF and UF pretreatment, the roughness slightly increased to 54.8 and 55.6 nm, respectively. On the other hand, without any pretreatment, with PAC adsorption and with FeCl3 flocculation, the roughness increased up to 69.7, 66.4 and 110 nm, respectively. It can be concluded that the pretreatment by MF and UF could relatively preserve the RO membrane surface. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Desalination	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1016/j.desal.2007.10.078	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Chemical Engineering	en_US
dc.title	Physico-chemical pretreatment to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO): organic characterization and membrane autopsy	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	1-3	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	236	en_US
utslib.for	090404 Membrane and Separation Technologies	en_US
utslib.for	03 Chemical Sciences	en_US
utslib.for	09 Engineering	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology/School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Science/School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CTWW - Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater Treatment
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	1-3	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	236	en_US

Abstract:

In this study, different pretreatment methods such as microfiltration (MF), ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF), powdered activated carbon (PAC) adsorption and ferric chloride (FeCl3) flocculation were evaluated in terms of their capability in removing seawater organic matter (SWOM) and the characteristics of the foulants on the seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) membranes. A detailed experiment with a crossflow SWRO filtration unit was conducted with SR membrane (MWCO 100 Da) at 60 bar with seawater (conductivity = 48.9 mS/cm) drawn from south-western Korea. The SWOM removal by UF, NF, PAC adsorption and FeCl3 flocculation was 20.3, 28.9, 46 and 23.3%, respectively. SWOM used in this study predominantly consisted of small size organic matter (<1000 Da). A large amount of the hydrophobic fraction present in SWOM was removed by PAC adsorption. The SDI5min significantly decreased from 12.7 (without any pretreatment) to 3.2 (MF), 1.3 (UF), 1.0 (NF) and 4.4 (PAC adsorption). RO filtration of seawater with and without pretreatment showed significant flux decline (normalized flux decline (J/J0) = 0.17 ± 0.02) within 20-h operation. The elemental analyses made on the RO surface after direct RO filtration showed that the relative fraction of the carbon decreased, while sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), chlorine (Cl) and iron (Fe) elements were found in the foulants extracted from the fouled membrane surface. The average roughness of the clean membrane surface was 41.5 nm. After MF and UF pretreatment, the roughness slightly increased to 54.8 and 55.6 nm, respectively. On the other hand, without any pretreatment, with PAC adsorption and with FeCl3 flocculation, the roughness increased up to 69.7, 66.4 and 110 nm, respectively. It can be concluded that the pretreatment by MF and UF could relatively preserve the RO membrane surface. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/9211