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. 2018 Aug 15;5(8):180586.
doi: 10.1098/rsos.180586. eCollection 2018 Aug.

New insight into the adsorption behaviour of effluent organic matter on organic-inorganic ultrafiltration membranes: a combined QCM-D and AFM study

Xudong Wang  1   2   3   4 , Danxi Huang  1   2   3   4 , Botao Cheng  1   2   3   4 , Lei Wang  1   2   3   4
Affiliations

New insight into the adsorption behaviour of effluent organic matter on organic-inorganic ultrafiltration membranes: a combined QCM-D and AFM study

Xudong Wang et al. R Soc Open Sci. .

Abstract

Adsorption of organic matter on membranes plays a major role in determining the fouling behaviour of membranes. This study investigated effluent organic matter (EfOM) adsorption behaviour onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane blended with SiO2 nanoparticles using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The QCM-D results suggested that low adsorption of EfOM and an EfOM layer with a non-rigid and open structure was formed on SiO2-terminated membrane surfaces. Conformational assessment showed that EfOM undergoes adsorption via two steps: (i) in the initial stage, a rapid adsorption of EfOM accumulated onto the membrane; (ii) the change in dissipation was still occurring when the adsorption frequency reached balance, and the layer tended towards a more rearranged or organized secondary structure upon adsorption onto the more hydrophilic surface. For the AFM force test, when a self-made EfOM-coated probe approached the membrane, a 'jump-in' was observed for the hydrophobic membrane after repulsion at a small distance, while only repulsive forces were observed for PVDF/SiO2 membranes. This study demonstrated that the PVDF/SiO2 membrane changed the entire filtration process, forming a 'soft' open conformation in the foulant layer.

Keywords: antifouling; atomic force microscope; effluent organic matter; poly(vinylidene fluoride); quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
FTIR spectra of the M1–M3 blend flat sheet membranes.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Dead-end filtration of the modified membranes with secondary wastewater effluent: (a) flux decline and (b) flux recovery rate.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
QCM-D measurement of (a) change in frequency (Δf) and (b) change in dissipation (ΔD) versus time upon adsorption of EfOM onto the QCM-D sensor coated with M1–M3 films.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
(a) Relationship between dissipation shift and frequency shift induced by adsorption of EfOM solution onto the QCM-D sensor coated with M1–M3 films. (b) A schematic diagram of the EfOM adsorption layer formed on the M1–M3 blend membrane surfaces.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Normalized force (F/R) versus separation curves of the interaction between an EfOM-coated probe and a clean membrane: (a) approaching curve, (b) retracting curve, and (c) the frequency distribution of the average retraction adhesion force.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.
Normalized force (F/R) versus separation curves between the EfOM-coated probe and the membranes fouled by EfOM: (a) approaching curve of M3, (b) retracting curve of M3, (c) the frequency distribution of the average retraction adhesion force of M3, and (d) retracting curve of M1–M3 after filtration of 800 ml of effluent.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.
(a,c) AFM surface images and (b,d) height distribution on the top surface of clean M1 and M3 blended membrane fouled with EfOM: field of view is 2 × 2 µm; (i) clean membrane, (ii) fouled membrane with 200 ml EfOM, (iii) fouled membrane with 800 ml EfOM, and (iv) membrane washed by water rinsing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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