Biofouling: Detection, Characterization, Prevention, and Control

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2021) | Viewed by 6620

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Singapore Membrane Technology Centre, Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637141, Singapore
Interests: membrane process; biofouling; fouling control; quorum sensing; quorum quenching

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Guest Editor
Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland, Hjardarhagi 2-6, IS-107 Reykjavik, Iceland
Interests: membrane bioreactors; membrane-based water and wastewater treatment; membrane-based renewable energy; membrane fouling and mitigation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC), Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore 637141, Singapore
Interests: membrane fouling; nutrient recovery and reuse; micropollutant removal

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Biofouling is microbial aggregates that are embedded in the EPS (extracellular polymeric substance) matrix, which is strongly attached to the membrane surface without being removed under the hydrodynamic conditions of the process. This biofouling inevitably occurs in most membrane processes, which as a result causes a permeability decreases, frequent chemical cleaning, and shortened lifetime of membrane, thereby increasing energy consumption and water production costs. Moreover, serious biofouling may not be removed even by chemical cleaning. Therefore, to date, many researchers and engineers have been making enormous efforts to address the issue of biofouling.

This Special Issue titled “Biofouling: Detection, Characterization, Prevention, and Control” seeks contributions that highlight recent achievements in the field of biofouling study. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following: early biofouling detection, biofouling characterization (such as biofilm structure, EPS, and microbial community), study of the underlying mechanisms of biofilm formation/detachment, design of membrane process for low biofouling, and development of physical/chemical/biological strategies for biofouling control and prevention. We welcome both original research and review papers.

Dr. Seonki Lee
Dr. Bing Wu
Dr. Huijuan Xu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • membrane biofouling
  • detection/sensor
  • biofilm formation and detachment
  • biofilm structure
  • microbial community
  • extracellular polymeric substance
  • biofouling control
  • pretreatment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1700 KiB  
Article
Study on the Control of Dichloroacetonitrile Generation by Two-Point Influent Activated Carbon-Quartz Sand Biofilter
by Xinrui Gui, Huining Zhang, Bixiao Ji, Jianqing Ma, Meijuan Xu, Yan Li and Ming Yan
Membranes 2022, 12(2), 137; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020137 - 24 Jan 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2093
Abstract
Aiming at the problem of highly toxic Nitrogenous disinfection by-products (N-DBPs) produced by disinfection in the process of drinking water, two-point influent activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter, activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter, and quartz sand biofilter are selected. This study takes typical N-DBPs Dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) [...] Read more.
Aiming at the problem of highly toxic Nitrogenous disinfection by-products (N-DBPs) produced by disinfection in the process of drinking water, two-point influent activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter, activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter, and quartz sand biofilter are selected. This study takes typical N-DBPs Dichloroacetonitrile (DCAN) as the research object and aromatic amino acid Tyrosine (Tyr), an important precursor of DCAN, as the model precursor. By measuring the changes of conventional pollutants in different biofilters, and the changes of Tyr, the output DCAN formation potential of the biofilters, this article investigates the control of DCAN generation of the two-point influent activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter. The results show that the average Tyr removal rate of the three biofilters during steady operation is 73%, 50%, and 20%, respectively, while the average effluent DCAN generation potential removal rate is 78%, 52%, and 23%, respectively. The two-point influent activated carbon-sand biofilter features the highest removal rate. The two-point water intake improves the hypoxia problem of the lower filter material of the activated carbon-quartz sand biofilter, and at the same time, the soluble microbial products produced by microbial metabolism can be reduced by an appropriate carbon sand ratio, which is better than traditional quartz sand filters and activated carbon-quartz sand biofilters in the performance of controlling the precursors of N-DBPs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofouling: Detection, Characterization, Prevention, and Control)
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7 pages, 3156 KiB  
Communication
Antibiofilm Effects of Heated Scallop Shell Powder on Campylobacter jejuni Biofilms
by Haruka Tsukuda, Taiki Akimoto, Nona Fukikoshi, Resei Wada and Jun Sawai
Membranes 2022, 12(1), 43; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12010043 - 29 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1542
Abstract
Methods to reuse large numbers of scallop shells from the harvesting regions of Japan are being explored. The major component of scallop shells is calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which forms the powerful bactericidal agent, calcium oxide (CaO), when heated. Heated scallop shell [...] Read more.
Methods to reuse large numbers of scallop shells from the harvesting regions of Japan are being explored. The major component of scallop shells is calcium carbonate (CaCO3), which forms the powerful bactericidal agent, calcium oxide (CaO), when heated. Heated scallop shell powder (HSSP) exhibits strong and broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This study investigated the antibiofilm activity of HSSP against the biofilms of Campylobacter jejuni, which is the predominant species in campylobacteriosis. Biofilm samples of C. jejuni were prepared on 0.45 µm filter paper under microaerobic conditions. The HSSP treatment inactivated and eradicated C. jejuni biofilms. The resistance of C. jejuni biofilms to HSSP was significantly higher than that of the floating cells. Moreover, the antibiofilm activity of the HSSP treatment against C. jejuni biofilms was higher than that of NaOH treatment at the same pH. These results indicated that HSSP treatment is an effective method for controlling C. jejuni biofilms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofouling: Detection, Characterization, Prevention, and Control)
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12 pages, 1574 KiB  
Article
Exploration on Optimized Control Way of D-Amino Acid for Efficiently Mitigating Membrane Biofouling of Membrane Bioreactor
by Zhan Gao, Zhihao Yu, Xiaoli Zhang, Shougang Fan, Huiyu Gao, Caini Liu, Qixing Zhou, Huaiqi Shao, Lan Wang and Xiaoyan Guo
Membranes 2021, 11(8), 612; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11080612 - 11 Aug 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2317
Abstract
The thorny issue of membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBR) calls for new effective control measures. Herein, D-amino acid (DAA) was employed to mediate MBR membrane biofouling by inhibiting biofilm information and disintegrating formed biofilm. Different DAA control ways involving membrane property, DAA-adding [...] Read more.
The thorny issue of membrane biofouling in membrane bioreactors (MBR) calls for new effective control measures. Herein, D-amino acid (DAA) was employed to mediate MBR membrane biofouling by inhibiting biofilm information and disintegrating formed biofilm. Different DAA control ways involving membrane property, DAA-adding timing, and DAA-control mode were explored through experiments and the multiple linear regression model and the response surface methodology. The optimized DAA control ways were acquired, involving DAA used as an active agent, and the DAA-adding timing of 4 h cultured before running, as well as both hydrophilic and hydrophobic membrane, resulting in an approximately 40.24% decrease in the membrane biofouling rate in comparison with the conventional MBR. DAA is an efficient membrane biofouling mediating approach for MBR under optimized control ways combination and a facile solution for solving membrane biofouling in actual membrane systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Biofouling: Detection, Characterization, Prevention, and Control)
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