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. 2022 Jul 8;12(7):697.
doi: 10.3390/membranes12070697.

A Study on Biofouling and Cleaning of Anion Exchange Membranes for Reverse Electrodialysis

Gonçalo Tiago  1 , Maria Beatriz Cristóvão  1   2 , Ana Paula Marques  2 , Rosa Huertas  1   2 , Ivan Merino-Garcia  3 , Vanessa Jorge Pereira  2   4 , João Goulão Crespo  1 , Svetlozar Velizarov  1
Affiliations

A Study on Biofouling and Cleaning of Anion Exchange Membranes for Reverse Electrodialysis

Gonçalo Tiago et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

This study covers the modification, (bio)fouling characterization, use, and cleaning of commercial heterogeneous anion exchange membranes (AEMs) to evaluate their feasibility for reverse electrodialysis (RED) applications. A surface modification with poly (acrylic) acid resulted in an improved monovalent perm-selectivity (decreased sulfate membrane transport rate). Moreover, we evaluated the (bio)fouling potential of the membrane using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS), and Aeromonas hydrophila as model organic foulants and a biofoulant, respectively. A detailed characterization of the AEMs (water contact angle, ion exchange capacity (IEC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectra) was carried out, verifying that the presence of such foulants reduces IEC and the maximum current obtained by CV. However, only SDS and SDBS affected the contact angle values. Cleaning of the biofouled membranes using a sodium hypochlorite aqueous solution allows for (partially) recovering their initial properties. Furthermore, this work includes a fouling characterization using real surface and sea water matrixes, confirming the presence of several types of fouling microorganisms in natural streams. A lower adhesion of microorganisms (measured in terms of total bacteria counts) was observed for the modified membranes compared to the unmodified ones. Finally, we propose a cleaning strategy to mitigate biofouling in AEMs that could be easily applied in RED systems for an enhanced long-term process performance.

Keywords: anion exchange membranes; biofouling; membrane cleaning; reverse electrodialysis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Contact angle results of different (bio)fouled AEMs.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Ion exchange capacity of (bio)fouled membranes in different scenarios.
Figure 3
Figure 3
ATR-FTIR spectra of the AEMs. The results of the membranes with Aeromonas are from the first batch.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Images of the top surface of the membranes (before biofouling) obtained by SEM: (a) unmodified AEM; (b) modified AEM.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Images of the top surface of the membranes (taken in three different zones) obtained by SEM: (a) unmodified membrane with Aeromonas; (b) modified membrane with Aeromonas.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Images of the top surface of the membranes (taken in three different zones) obtained by SEM: (a) unmodified membrane and (b) modified fouled membrane after chemical cleaning.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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