Aquaporin based biomimetic membrane in forward osmosis: Chemical cleaning resistance and practical operation

Abstract

CitationLi Z, Valladares Linares R, Bucs S, Fortunato L, Hélix-Nielsen C, et al. (2017) Aquaporin based biomimetic membrane in forward osmosis: Chemical cleaning resistance and practical operation. Desalination 420: 208-215. Available: http://dx. AbstractAquaporin plays a promising role to prepare a high performance biomimetic forward osmosis membrane. However, aquaporin as a protein also has a risk of denaturation caused by various chemicals, resulting in a possible decay of membrane performance. The present study tested a novel aquaporin biomimetic membrane in simulated membrane cleaning processes. The effects of cleaning detergents on water flux and salt rejection were evaluated. The membrane showed a good resistance to chemical detergents tested. The water flux after chemical cleaning showed significant increases, particularly after cleaning with NaOCl and Alconox. Changes in the membrane structure and increased hydrophilicity in the surrounding areas of the aquaporin protein channel may be accountable for the increase in water permeability. The membrane shows stable salt rejection up to 99% after all cleaning solutions were used. A 15-day experiment with secondary wastewater effluent as the feed and seawater as the draw solution showed a stable flux and high salt rejection. The average total organic carbon rejection from wastewater after 15-day test was 90%. The results demonstrated that the aquaporin based biomimetic forward osmosis membrane exhibits chemical resistance for most common detergents used in membrane cleaning procedures, maintaining a stable flux and high salt rejection.

Permeation of greywater constituents in an aquaporin based biomimetic forward osmosis membrane process: experimental performance and modeling

“…On the one hand, similar to SDS, SDBS can form micelles at C2 and C3 levels since the critical micelle concentration of SDBS is 1.1 mmol L –1 . On the other hand, surfactants could reduce membrane surface tension, which improved the hydrophilicity the membrane surface . As shown in Table , the decrease in contact angle after the test of SDBS indicated that the hydrophilicity of the membrane surface was indeed significantly increased.…”

“…Forward osmosis (FO) is recognized as an emerging membrane separation technology which has the advantages of low energy consumption and high rejection of a broad range of pollutants . FO uses the osmotic pressure gradient as the driving force for the transport of water across the semi‐permeable membrane from a relatively low concentration feed solution (FS) to a concentrated draw solution (DS) and consequently resulting in concentration of the FS and dilution of the DS . A good FO membrane should have excellent water flux, high salt rejection and superb membrane stability simultaneously …”

“…However, Li et al . examined the stability of ABBM after simulated chemical cleaning procedures and the membrane showed good chemical stability when tested with different chemical cleaning agents over a wide pH range (1.4–11.7) . Therefore, the application of ABBM can be expanded.…”

“…[1][2][3] FO uses the osmotic pressure gradient as the driving force for the www.soci.org C Wang, Y Li transport of water across the semi-permeable membrane from a relatively low concentration feed solution (FS) to a concentrated draw solution (DS) and consequently resulting in concentration of the FS and dilution of the DS. 4,5 A good FO membrane should have excellent water flux, high salt rejection and superb membrane stability simultaneously. 6 Aquaporins are ubiquitous biological membrane proteins acting as selective water channels through the membrane.…”

“…However, Li et al examined the stability of ABBM after simulated chemical cleaning procedures and the membrane showed good chemical stability when tested with different chemical cleaning agents over a wide pH range (1.4-11.7). 4 Therefore, the application of ABBM can be expanded. Our previous study for the treatment of greywater with a cellulose triacetate (CTA) FO membrane from HTI found that the FO process provided strong rejection of greywater constituents.…”