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Title Recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes for membrane biofilms reactors (MBfRs). Effect of chlorination on the membrane surface and gas permeability
ID_Doc 10894
Authors Morón-López, J; Nieto-Reyes, L; Aguado, S; El-Shehawy, R; Molina, S
Title Recycling of end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes for membrane biofilms reactors (MBfRs). Effect of chlorination on the membrane surface and gas permeability
Year 2019
Published
DOI 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.05.108
Abstract Reducing human impacts on drinking water is one of the main challenges for the water treatment industry. This work provides new results to support the recycling of EoL desalination reverse osmosis (RO) membranes for Membranes Biofilm Reactors (MBfRs). We investigate if the controlled-removal of fouling and polyamide layer may favor the use of these membranes in MBfRs. It also would allow establishing a normalized methodology of membrane recycling, regardless of inherited fouling during its lifespan. For this purpose, we transform by chlorination discarded brackish (BWd) and seawater (SWd) membranes into nanofiltration (BWt-NF and SWt-NF) and ultrafiltration (BWt-UF and SWt-UF) membranes. Our results show that chlorine attacks allow the fouling cleaning while improves the hydrophilicity and maintains roughness only in BWt-NF. Therefore, the bacterial deposition in this membrane is greater than the other tested membranes. Besides, the microcystin (MC) degradation capacity of BWt-NF verifies the compatibility of the chemical modification for the biological activity of MC-degrading bacteria. Finally, our results also provide that polyamide thin-film composite (PA-TFC) membranes, originally manufactured for salt rejection during desalination processes, offer competitive gases diffusion at low pressures. Therefore, we conclude that the membrane recycling may provide alternative low cost and gas permeable membranes for MBfRs, according to circular economy principles. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Author Keywords Recycled membranes; Transformation process; Chlorination; Fouling; Biofilm; Microcystin; Degradation; Gas permeability
Index Keywords Index Keywords
Document Type Other
Open Access Open Access
Source Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED)
EID WOS:000472694200012
WoS Category Environmental Sciences
Research Area Environmental Sciences & Ecology
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