Biofouling of filtration membranes in wastewater reuse: In situ visualization with confocal laser scanning microscopy

Tow, Emily W.; Rad, Behzad; Kostecki, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2021.120019

Biofouling of filtration membranes in wastewater reuse: In situ visualization with confocal laser scanning microscopy

Journal Article · Sat Nov 06 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Journal of Membrane Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2021.120019· OSTI ID:1906330

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, Needham, MA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Molecular Foundry
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

The filtration membranes utilized in advanced treatment of municipal wastewater are prone to biological fouling. Permeability loss and water recovery limitations due to fouling necessitate additional pretreatment and membrane cleaning, which raise the cost of water reuse. Better fouling mitigation calls for a deeper understanding of biofilm behavior on water reuse membranes. This study uses confocal microscopy to monitor biofouling under realistic conditions. To simulate water reuse, a miniature flow cell with microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes was operated under typical filtration conditions using secondary effluent from California's East Bay Municipal Utility District. The growing biofilms were stained for extracellular polymeric substances and live and dead cells, and they were monitored in situ under filtration conditions with a confocal laser scanning microscope to produce 2-D and 3-D images. In situ image series revealed biofilm growth and removal processes including internal and external fouling, extracellular polymeric substance production, wrinkling, delamination, and film re-deposition. Additionally, changes in biofilm morphology between in situ and ex situ images highlighted limitations of ex situ imaging. Here, these results provide insight into the physical and biological mechanisms of biofouling in hopes of informing the development of improved techniques for biofouling mitigation.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: TRI-Rosenfeld Postdoctoral Fellowship; U.S./China Clean Energy Research Center for Water-Energy Technologies (CERC-WET); USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1906330

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1862539

Journal Information:: Journal of Membrane Science, Journal Name: Journal of Membrane Science Vol. 644; ISSN 0376-7388

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (36)

Volumetric measurements of bacterial cells and extracellular polymeric substance glycoconjugates in biofilms Staudt, C.; Horn, H.; Hempel, D. C. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol. 88, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.20241	journal	January 2004
Bioengineering report: Fouling biofilm development: A process analysis Characklis, W. G. Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol. 23, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/bit.260230902	journal	September 1981
Phylogenetic Composition, Spatial Structure, and Dynamics of Lotic Bacterial Biofilms Investigated by Fluorescent in Situ Hybridization and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy Manz, W.; Wendt-Potthoff, K.; Neu, T. R. Microbial Ecology, Vol. 37, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s002489900148	journal	May 1999
A critical review of fouling of reverse osmosis membranes Potts, D. E.; Ahlert, R. C.; Wang, S. S. Desalination, Vol. 36, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0011-9164(00)88642-7	journal	March 1981
Complex fouling and cleaning-in-place of a reverse osmosis desalination system Luo, Min; Wang, Zhangsheng Desalination, Vol. 141, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0011-9164(01)00385-X	journal	December 2001
In-situ biofouling assessment in spacer filled channels using optical coherence tomography (OCT): 3D biofilm thickness mapping Fortunato, Luca; Leiknes, TorOve Bioresource Technology, Vol. 229 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2017.01.021	journal	April 2017
The importance of microscopic characterization of membrane biofilms in an unconfined environment Bar-Zeev, Edo; Zodrow, Katherine R.; Kwan, Sarah E. Desalination, Vol. 348 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2014.06.003	journal	September 2014
In situ visualization of organic fouling and cleaning mechanisms in reverse osmosis and forward osmosis Tow, Emily W.; Rencken, Martin M.; Lienhard, John H. Desalination, Vol. 399 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2016.08.024	journal	December 2016
Direct observation of biofouling in cross-flow microfiltration: mechanisms of deposition and release Kang, S.; Subramani, A.; Hoek, E. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 244, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2004.07.011	journal	November 2004
In situ 3D characterization of membrane fouling by yeast suspensions using two-photon femtosecond near infrared non-linear optical imaging Hughes, David; Tirlapur, Uday K.; Field, Robert Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 280, Issue 1-2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2006.01.017	journal	September 2006
Biofouling in forward osmosis and reverse osmosis: Measurements and mechanisms Kwan, Sarah E.; Bar-Zeev, Edo; Elimelech, Menachem Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 493 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2015.07.027	journal	November 2015
Membrane fouling in osmotically driven membrane processes: A review She, Qianhong; Wang, Rong; Fane, Anthony G. Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 499 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2015.10.040	journal	February 2016
Spatially-resolved in-situ quantification of biofouling using optical coherence tomography (OCT) and 3D image analysis in a spacer filled channel Fortunato, Luca; Bucs, Szilárd; Linares, Rodrigo Valladares Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 524 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2016.11.052	journal	February 2017
Deformation-induced cleaning of organically fouled membranes: Fundamentals and techno-economic assessment for spiral-wound membranes Goon, Grace S. S.; Labban, Omar; Foo, Zi Hao Journal of Membrane Science, Vol. 626 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2021.119169	journal	May 2021
Multiplex FISH analysis of a six-species bacterial biofilm Thurnheer, T.; Gmür, R.; Guggenheim, B. Journal of Microbiological Methods, Vol. 56, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2003.09.003	journal	January 2004
The biofilm architecture of sixty opportunistic pathogens deciphered using a high throughput CLSM method Bridier, A.; Dubois-Brissonnet, F.; Boubetra, A. Journal of Microbiological Methods, Vol. 82, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mimet.2010.04.006	journal	July 2010
A review of polymeric membranes and processes for potable water reuse Warsinger, David M.; Chakraborty, Sudip; Tow, Emily W. Progress in Polymer Science, Vol. 81 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2018.01.004	journal	June 2018
Salt cleaning of organic-fouled reverse osmosis membranes Lee, Sangyoup; Elimelech, Menachem Water Research, Vol. 41, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2006.11.043	journal	March 2007
Combined use of confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and Raman microscopy (RM): Investigations on EPS – Matrix Wagner, Michael; Ivleva, Natalia P.; Haisch, Christoph Water Research, Vol. 43, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2008.10.034	journal	January 2009
Spatial and temporal evolution of organic foulant layers on reverse osmosis membranes in wastewater reuse applications Farias, Elizabeth L.; Howe, Kerry J.; Thomson, Bruce M. Water Research, Vol. 58 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.03.061	journal	July 2014
How different is the composition of the fouling layer of wastewater reuse and seawater desalination RO membranes? Khan, Muhammad Tariq; Busch, Markus; Molina, Veronica Garcia Water Research, Vol. 59 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2014.04.020	journal	August 2014
Effect of water temperature on biofouling development in reverse osmosis membrane systems Farhat, N. M.; Vrouwenvelder, J. S.; Van Loosdrecht, M. C. M. Water Research, Vol. 103 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2016.07.015	journal	October 2016
Impact of Hydrodynamics on the First Stages of Biofilm Formation in Forward Osmosis with Spacers Kastl, Andreas; Bogler, Anne; Spinnler, Markus Environmental Science & Technology, Vol. 54, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.0c00380	journal	March 2020
Reverse Osmosis Biofilm Dispersal by Osmotic Back-Flushing: Cleaning via Substratum Perforation Bar-Zeev, Edo; Elimelech, Menachem Environmental Science & Technology Letters, Vol. 1, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1021/ez400183d	journal	December 2013
Should we stay or should we go: mechanisms and ecological consequences for biofilm dispersal McDougald, Diane; Rice, Scott A.; Barraud, Nicolas Nature Reviews Microbiology, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro2695	journal	November 2011
Time-resolved monitoring of biofouling development on a flat sheet membrane using optical coherence tomography Fortunato, Luca; Jeong, Sanghyun; Leiknes, TorOve Scientific Reports, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-00051-9	journal	February 2017
Involvement of bacterial migration in the development of complex multicellular structures in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms: Biofilm mushrooms with a twitch Klausen, Mikkel; Aaes-Jørgensen, Anders; Molin, Søren Molecular Microbiology, Vol. 50, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2958.2003.03677.x	journal	August 2003
Mini-review: Convection around biofilms Stewart, Philip S. Biofouling, Vol. 28, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1080/08927014.2012.662641	journal	February 2012
Combination of microscopic techniques reveals a comprehensive visual impression of biofilm structure and composition Alhede, Morten; Qvortrup, Klaus; Liebrechts, Ramon FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology, Vol. 65, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-695X.2012.00956.x	journal	July 2012
Scanning Transmission X-Ray, Laser Scanning, and Transmission Electron Microscopy Mapping of the Exopolymeric Matrix of Microbial Biofilms Lawrence, J. R.; Swerhone, G. D. W.; Leppard, G. G. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 69, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.69.9.5543-5554.2003	journal	September 2003
Hypothesis for the Role of Nutrient Starvation in Biofilm Detachment Hunt, Stephen M.; Werner, Erin M.; Huang, Baochuan Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Vol. 70, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1128/AEM.70.12.7418-7425.2004	journal	December 2004
Bacterial Community Morphogenesis Is Intimately Linked to the Intracellular Redox State Dietrich, L. E. P.; Okegbe, C.; Price-Whelan, A. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 195, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.02273-12	journal	January 2013
Cell Death in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilm Development Webb, J. S.; Thompson, L. S.; James, S. Journal of Bacteriology, Vol. 185, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1128/JB.185.15.4585-4592.2003	journal	July 2003
Cytotoxicity, Mutagenicity and DNA damage by Hoechst 33342. Durand, R. E.; Olive, P. L. Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, Vol. 30, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1177/30.2.7061816	journal	February 1982
Bacterial Cell Monitoring in Wastewater Treatment Plants by Flow Cytometry Manti, Anita; Boi, Paola; Falcioni, Tania Water Environment Research, Vol. 80, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.2175/106143007X221418	journal	April 2008
Fluorescence Lectin Bar-Coding of Glycoconjugates in the Extracellular Matrix of Biofilm and Bioaggregate Forming Microorganisms Neu, Thomas; Kuhlicke, Ute Microorganisms, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms5010005	journal	February 2017

Similar Records

Pretreatment for membrane water treatment systems: a laboratory study

Journal Article · Tue Sep 30 00:00:00 EDT 2003 · Water Research · OSTI ID:15010004

Biofouling of groundwater distribution systems by Thiothrix spp.

Technical Report · Thu Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 1995 · OSTI ID:148694

Research Update: Liquid gated membrane filtration performance with inorganic particle suspensions

Journal Article · Mon Oct 22 20:00:00 EDT 2018 · APL Materials · OSTI ID:1613567

Related Subjects

ultrafiltration
47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
confocal laser scanning microscopy
membrane fouling
microfiltration
water reuse

Biofouling of filtration membranes in wastewater reuse: In situ visualization with confocal laser scanning microscopy

Citation Formats

References (36)

Similar Records

Related Subjects