Biofouling on RO-membranes used for water recovery in the dairy industry

Iuliana-Madalina Stoica; Eirini Vitzilaiou; Henriette Lyng Røder; Mette Burmølle; Dorrit Thaysen; Susanne Knøchel; Franciscus Winfried J van der Berg

doi:10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004

Biofouling on RO-membranes used for water recovery in the dairy industry

Iuliana-Madalina Stoica^*, Eirini Vitzilaiou, Henriette Lyng Røder, Mette Burmølle, Dorrit Thaysen, Susanne Knøchel, Franciscus Winfried J van der Berg

^*Corresponding author for this work

20 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Recovery followed by re-use of process-water obtained from dairy effluents by means of reverse osmosis technology is one route that can provide the dairy industry with the possibility to reach sustainable water regimes. However, membrane fouling is a phenomenon that limits both the efficiency and increases the running costs of such reverse osmosis units and can potentially alter the quality characteristics of permeate water. In this paper, several industrial-scale RO membranes used for recovery of process-water from whey UF permeate have been examined for their fouling tendency. At the end of a complete clean-in-place (CIP) protocol based on alkaline-acid formulations, biofouling appears to be the main issue in the investigated RO-elements. Between 4.19 and 5.69 log₁₀ (CFU cm⁻²) of viable microorganisms still remained on the membrane retentate surface and, more surprisingly, evidence of significant contamination was found on permeate side of these particular membranes. Microbiological analysis indicate that minor loads of microorganisms do pass into the permeate streams but final UV treatments ensured final process-water with non-detectable levels. There is a need for optimization of cleaning procedures and finding the best compromise for achieving surface disinfection while still preserving membrane integrity and not compromising the water quality.

Original language	English
Journal	Journal of Water Process Engineering
Volume	24
Pages (from-to)	1-10
Number of pages	10
ISSN	2214-7144
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004
Publication status	Published - 2018

Keywords

Biofouling
CIP
Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)
Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes
Water recovery

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10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004

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title = "Biofouling on RO-membranes used for water recovery in the dairy industry",

abstract = "Recovery followed by re-use of process-water obtained from dairy effluents by means of reverse osmosis technology is one route that can provide the dairy industry with the possibility to reach sustainable water regimes. However, membrane fouling is a phenomenon that limits both the efficiency and increases the running costs of such reverse osmosis units and can potentially alter the quality characteristics of permeate water. In this paper, several industrial-scale RO membranes used for recovery of process-water from whey UF permeate have been examined for their fouling tendency. At the end of a complete clean-in-place (CIP) protocol based on alkaline-acid formulations, biofouling appears to be the main issue in the investigated RO-elements. Between 4.19 and 5.69 log10 (CFU cm−2) of viable microorganisms still remained on the membrane retentate surface and, more surprisingly, evidence of significant contamination was found on permeate side of these particular membranes. Microbiological analysis indicate that minor loads of microorganisms do pass into the permeate streams but final UV treatments ensured final process-water with non-detectable levels. There is a need for optimization of cleaning procedures and finding the best compromise for achieving surface disinfection while still preserving membrane integrity and not compromising the water quality.",

keywords = "Biofouling, CIP, Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, Water recovery",

author = "Iuliana-Madalina Stoica and Eirini Vitzilaiou and R{\o}der, {Henriette Lyng} and Mette Burm{\o}lle and Dorrit Thaysen and Susanne Kn{\o}chel and {van der Berg}, {Franciscus Winfried J}",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004",

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AU - Stoica, Iuliana-Madalina

AU - Vitzilaiou, Eirini

AU - Røder, Henriette Lyng

AU - Burmølle, Mette

AU - Thaysen, Dorrit

AU - Knøchel, Susanne

AU - van der Berg, Franciscus Winfried J

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - Recovery followed by re-use of process-water obtained from dairy effluents by means of reverse osmosis technology is one route that can provide the dairy industry with the possibility to reach sustainable water regimes. However, membrane fouling is a phenomenon that limits both the efficiency and increases the running costs of such reverse osmosis units and can potentially alter the quality characteristics of permeate water. In this paper, several industrial-scale RO membranes used for recovery of process-water from whey UF permeate have been examined for their fouling tendency. At the end of a complete clean-in-place (CIP) protocol based on alkaline-acid formulations, biofouling appears to be the main issue in the investigated RO-elements. Between 4.19 and 5.69 log10 (CFU cm−2) of viable microorganisms still remained on the membrane retentate surface and, more surprisingly, evidence of significant contamination was found on permeate side of these particular membranes. Microbiological analysis indicate that minor loads of microorganisms do pass into the permeate streams but final UV treatments ensured final process-water with non-detectable levels. There is a need for optimization of cleaning procedures and finding the best compromise for achieving surface disinfection while still preserving membrane integrity and not compromising the water quality.

AB - Recovery followed by re-use of process-water obtained from dairy effluents by means of reverse osmosis technology is one route that can provide the dairy industry with the possibility to reach sustainable water regimes. However, membrane fouling is a phenomenon that limits both the efficiency and increases the running costs of such reverse osmosis units and can potentially alter the quality characteristics of permeate water. In this paper, several industrial-scale RO membranes used for recovery of process-water from whey UF permeate have been examined for their fouling tendency. At the end of a complete clean-in-place (CIP) protocol based on alkaline-acid formulations, biofouling appears to be the main issue in the investigated RO-elements. Between 4.19 and 5.69 log10 (CFU cm−2) of viable microorganisms still remained on the membrane retentate surface and, more surprisingly, evidence of significant contamination was found on permeate side of these particular membranes. Microbiological analysis indicate that minor loads of microorganisms do pass into the permeate streams but final UV treatments ensured final process-water with non-detectable levels. There is a need for optimization of cleaning procedures and finding the best compromise for achieving surface disinfection while still preserving membrane integrity and not compromising the water quality.

KW - Biofouling

KW - CIP

KW - Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM)

KW - Reverse osmosis (RO) membranes

KW - Water recovery

U2 - 10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004

DO - 10.1016/j.jwpe.2018.05.004

M3 - Journal article

AN - SCOPUS:85046681681

SN - 2214-7144

VL - 24

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Journal of Water Process Engineering

JF - Journal of Water Process Engineering

ER -

Biofouling on RO-membranes used for water recovery in the dairy industry

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Keywords

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