Improvement of anti-biofouling properties of hollow fiber membranes with bismuth-BAL chelates (BisBAL)

Abstract

In this study, hollow fiber membranes with and without bismuth dimercaptopropanol (Bis-BAL) additive were fabricated. Membranes were characterized in terms of permeability, surface properties, anti-biofouling and antibacterial properties. Membranes were operated in a lab-scale submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR). During the MBR operation, flux, chemical oxygen demand, volatile suspended solids and suspended solids were calculated for 30 days. Results showed that extracellular polymeric substance and soluble microbial product amounts were decreased in BisBAL-containing membranes. BisBAL-added membranes had the ability to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli. BisBAL as an additive for membranes was found to be an effective, cheap alternative for enhancing anti-biofouling properties of the membranes.

Comparative impact of SiO2 and TiO2 nanofillers on the performance of thin‐film nanocomposite membranes

“…Several recent investigations have considered the addition of nanomaterials as "nanofillers" in the polymer matrix to increase the antifouling resistance of membranes, primarily through alterations in surface charge and hydrophobicity of membrane in surfaces water treatment applications. [6][7][8][9][10] Inorganic particles such as graphene oxides, [11,12] carbon nanotubes (CNTs), [3,13,14] silica (SiO 2 ), [15,16] and titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ), [14,17,18] when added to the PA layer of thin-film composites, have been observed to improve hydrophilicity and reduce fouling. TiO 2 is one such promising nanofiller that may be used to improve properties of both the rejecting skin and support layers of membranes due to its relatively high hydrophilicity, [19,20] low toxicity, and environmental compatibility.…”