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Published on: February 13, 2016
Biofouling behavior and performance of forward osmosis membranes with bioinspired surface modification in osmotic
Fang Li1, Qianxun Cheng2, Qing Tian2
1School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Textile Pollution Controlling Engineering Center of Ministry of Environmental Protection, Shanghai 201620, China.
Abstract:
Forward osmosis (FO) has received considerable interest for water and energy related applications in recent years. Biofouling behavior and performance of cellulose triacetate (CTA) forward osmosis membranes with bioinspired surface modification via polydopamine (PD) coating and poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafting (PD-g-PEG) in a submerged osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR) were investigated in this work. The modified membranes exhibited lower flux decline than the pristine one in OMBR, confirming that the bioinspired surface modification improved the antifouling ability of the CTA FO membrane. The result showed that the decline of membrane flux related to the increase of the salinity and MLSS concentration of the mixed liquid. It was concluded that the antifouling ability of modified membranes ascribed to the change of surface morphology in addition to the improvement of membrane hydrophilicity. The bioinspired surface modifications might improve the anti-adhesion for the biopolymers and biocake.
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