Effect of flow velocity, substrate concentration and hydraulic cleaning on biofouling of reverse osmosis feed channels

Effects of shear rate on biofouling of reverse osmosis membrane during tertiary wastewater desalination

“…Biofilm formed at low shear rate was easier to remove during water flushing compared to a biofilm formed at high shear. In conclusion, so far, shear rate has been reported to influence biofilm morphology, to affect membrane performance [16,18], and is required to be further studied under desalination and biofouling conditions. Despite extensive biofilm literature, systematic studies on the influence of shear rate on the RO biofouling process are scarce.…”

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

“…Significantly less deposition was observed on the membrane areas in front of spacer filaments. 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.…”

Detachment characteristics of a mixed culture biofilm using particle size analysis

“…In particular it was suggested that sloughing events influence the development of biofilm structure. Accordingly, reproducibility, as measured by structural parameters, is likely to decrease over cultivation time due to the stochastic nature of sloughing events [21,22]. The novel aspect of the present study is the development of a framework to assess reproducibility in the context of detachment rate but recognizing that detached particles have a highly variable size distribution.…”