Biofouling of spiral-wound nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes: A feed spacer problem

Vrouwenvelder, Johannes S.; Schulenburg, D.A. Graf Von Der; Kruithof, Joop C.; Johns, Michael L.; Loosdrecht, M.C.M. van

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2008.11.019

Cited by 304 publications

(203 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Other systems that suffer from biofilm-induced clogging are spiral-wound reverse osmosis filters (48,49), which are used, e.g., to purify drinking water. Feed spacer mesh, the element within these filtration devices that is prone to biofilm formation, also displays biofilm streamers that form a network (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm streamers cause catastrophic disruption of flow with consequences for environmental and medical systems

Drescher

Shen

Bassler

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

298

396

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Biofilms are antibiotic-resistant, sessile bacterial communities that occupy most moist surfaces on Earth and cause chronic and medical device-associated infections. Despite their importance, basic information about biofilm dynamics in common ecological environments is lacking. Here, we demonstrate that flow through soil-like porous materials, industrial filters, and medical stents dramatically modifies the morphology of Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms to form 3D streamers, which, over time, bridge the spaces between obstacles and corners in nonuniform environments. We discovered that accumulation of surface-attached biofilm has little effect on flow through such environments, whereas biofilm streamers cause sudden and rapid clogging. We demonstrate that flow-induced shedding of extracellular matrix from surface-attached biofilms generates a sievelike network that captures cells and other biomass, which add to the existing network, causing exponentially fast clogging independent of growth. These results suggest that biofilm streamers are ubiquitous in nature and strongly affect flow through porous materials in environmental, industrial, and medical systems.bioclogging | biofouling | porous media I n the laboratory, bacteria are usually grown as planktonic cells in shaken suspensions, which differs dramatically from the natural environments of most microbes. In their natural habitats, bacteria often live in biofilms (1-3), which are tightly packed, surface-associated assemblies of bacteria that are bound together by extracellular polymeric substances (4, 5). Although biofilms are desirable in waste-water treatment (6), biofilms primarily cause undesirable effects such as chronic infections or clogging of industrial flow systems (1-3). Cells in biofilms display many behavioral differences from planktonic cells, such as a 1,000-fold increase in tolerance to antibiotics (7,8), an altered transcriptome (9-11), and spatially heterogeneous metabolic activity (12, 13). Some of these physiological peculiarities of biofilm-dwelling cells may be due to strong gradients of nutrients and metabolites, which also affect biofilm morphology and composition (14, 15). However, little is known about how physical aspects of the environment affect biofilm dynamics.The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa has become a model organism for biofilm studies largely because it forms biofilms in diverse habitats, including soil, rivers, sewage, and medical devices in humans (1, 2, 16). Two features are common to all of these environments: First, the presence of rough surfaces, which at the microscopic level reduce to surfaces with many corners, and second, a pressure-driven flow. The standard assay for growing biofilms in the laboratory abstracts from these realistic environments by typically using a smooth surface as a substrate, and either no flow or a pump to force nutritious medium across the biofilm at a constant flow rate (17-19). These standard assays have enabled the identification of several genes involved in biofilm develo...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm streamers cause catastrophic disruption of flow with consequences for environmental and medical systems

Drescher

Shen

Bassler

et al. 2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

298

396

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…In the same way, several studies have shown experimentally and through modelling development that the stagnation zones created by the feed spacers, such as behind the spacer filament crossings on NF and RO membrane modules [122,123], enhance biofilm formation and the creation of regions of low and high liquid flow velocity [124], also called channelling. Vrouwenvelder et al [125] obtained a higher pressure drop caused by biomass accumulation with a spacer in the feed channel compared to without one, showing the importance of hydrodynamics on biofilm formation, and possibly on bacteria adhesion. These studies suggest that the presence of a feed spacer may play a role in enhancing biofilm development and consequently new module and/or spacer designs and materials may play an important role in mitigating biofilm development in NF and RO membranes.…”

Section: Hydrodynamics and Mass Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of cell-surface interactions in bacterial initial adhesion and consequent biofilm formation on nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membranes

Habimana

Semiao

Casey

2014

Journal of Membrane Science

226

113

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“…The feed spacer is responsible for the accumulation of biomass in the membrane channels. Although numerous studies on membrane surface modification (Vrouwenvelder et al 2009) exist, the literature on spacer surface modification is less abundant. Surface modifications of feed spacers have been studied using metal coatings, e.g.…”

Section: Theory Of Feed Spacer Coatingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrogel-coated feed spacers in two-phase flow cleaning in spiral wound membrane elements: A novel platform for eco-friendly biofouling mitigation

et al. 2015

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Biofouling is still a major challenge in the application of nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes. Here we present a platform approach for environmentally friendly biofouling control using a combination of a hydrogel-coated feed spacer and two-phase flow cleaning.Neutral (polyHEMA-co-PEG10MA), cationic (polyDMAEMA) and anionic (polySPMA) hydrogels have been successfully grafted onto polypropylene (PP) feed spacers via plasmamediated UV-polymerization. These coatings maintained their chemical stability after 7 days incubation in neutral (pH 7), acidic (pH 5) and basic (pH 9) environments. Anti-biofouling properties of these coatings were evaluated by E. coli attachment assay and nanofiltration experiments at a TMP of 600 kPag using tap water with additional nutrients as feed and by using optical coherence tomography. Especially the anionic polySPMA-coated PP feed spacer shows reduced attachment of E. coli and biofouling in the spacer-filled narrow channels resulting in delayed biofilm growth. Employing this highly hydrophilic coating during removal of biofouling by two-phase flow cleaning also showed enhanced cleaning efficiency, feed channel pressure drop and flux recoveries. The strong hydrophilic nature and the presence of negative charge on polySPMA are most probably responsible for the improved antifouling behavior. A combination of polySPMA-coated PP feed spacers and two-phase flow cleaning therefore is promising and an environmentally friendly approach to control biofouling in NF/RO systems employing spiral-wound membrane modules.3

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Biofouling of spiral-wound nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes: A feed spacer problem

Cited by 304 publications

References 25 publications

Biofilm streamers cause catastrophic disruption of flow with consequences for environmental and medical systems

Biofilm streamers cause catastrophic disruption of flow with consequences for environmental and medical systems

The role of cell-surface interactions in bacterial initial adhesion and consequent biofilm formation on nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membranes

Hydrogel-coated feed spacers in two-phase flow cleaning in spiral wound membrane elements: A novel platform for eco-friendly biofouling mitigation

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