In-situ utilization of membrane foulants (FeO_x+MnO_x) for the efficient membrane cleaning

Preoxidation-ultrafiltration process is an effective method for Fe²⁺ and Mn²⁺removal, in which Fe²⁺ (Mn²⁺) are firstly oxidized to FeO_x (MnO_x), then collected by the ultrafiltration membrane. However, the simultaneous presence of Fe²⁺, Mn²⁺, and organics in feed can cause severe membrane fouling, which inhibits the overall performance of this method prominently. In this study, a novel FeO_x+MnO_x+H₂O₂ membrane cleaning method is proposed based on the idea of turning in-situ generated membrane foulants, i.e., FeO_x+MnO_x, into the catalysts for membrane cleaning. The results demonstrate that the FeO_x+MnO_x+H₂O₂ system can achieve more than 95% membrane flux recovery and remove almost all irreversible membrane foulants within only 5 min and with only 0.5%wt% H₂O₂ solution. The outstanding performance of the system is mainly attributed to the catalytic decomposition of H₂O₂ to generate both highly reactive radicals, such as hydroxyl radicals (·OH), and abundant oxygen. In addition, when the membrane is loaded by only MnO_x, polyaluminium chloride (PAC) as the coagulator demonstrates prominent influence on the performance of membrane cleaning. However, PAC makes almost no contribution to membrane cleaning when the membrane is loaded by FeO_x. This is because coagulation induced by PAC exerts more prominent impact on the particle size distribution of MnO_x than that of FeO_x. In conclusion, the catalytic decomposition of H₂O₂ by in-situ generated FeO_x+MnO_x is a promising advanced oxidation process to achieve outstanding membrane cleaning performance under the condition of low H₂O₂ concentration and no extra dosage of catalysts. The novel membrane cleaning system exhibits high potential for the practical membrane treatment processes to treat water with high contents of Fe and Mn.