Full Description

Nanofiltration of surface waters has been successfully implemented at large scalefacilities to improve drinking water quality. However, fouling remains one ofthe most important issues in membranes technologies as, on a long-term, it usuallycauses loss of performances. Biofouling consists of the accumulation ofmicroorganisms and their secretions at the membrane surface. It remains one of themost difficult types of fouling to handle. Once it has appeared, curative treatment ofbiofouling consists in cleaning the membrane, using appropriate biocides, orcombination of both. However, the best way to cope with biofouling remains tominimize its development, and therefore to choose an adequate pretreatment of watersbefore membrane filtration.Predicting biofouling potential of pretreated waters is uncertain by common foulingpotential measurements such as Silt Density Index, or even by feed water qualityanalyses. The more accurate mean to conclude biofouling potential is to foulmembranes, and then, proceed to an autopsy, in which biomass and organic content ofthe membrane deposit are quantified. In this work, in addition to bacterialenumeration and carbon dosage of the material colonizing the membranes, an originalprocedure was used to assess the bacterial deposit at the membrane surface whichconsists of measuring a potential enzymatic activity of the bacterial biomass. Includes 8 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2005 Number of Pages: 10File Size: 1 file , 330 KB