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The interest in the application of nanofiltration as well as reverse osmosis in theproduction of drinking water from surface waters (fresh water as well as seawater) iscontinuously increasing. This is especially true since the introduction of ultra- ormicrofiltration as pretreatment, as this configuration (as determined with classicalmethods for fouling like SDI and MFI) seems to guarantee an optimum feed waterquality.However, many operators experience severe problems with biofouling during theoperation of such systems, i.e., a slime layer on the membrane surface increasesresistance to convectional flow and decreases flux dramatically. Biofouling can in factmake a membrane treatment process economically nonviable. This paper discusses biofouling of membranes; origination of membrane biofilms; estimation of gel formation by deposition-adsorption of dissolved polysaccharides; and, consequences for pretreatment strategies. Includes 6 references.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/05/2003 Number of Pages: 4File Size: 1 file , 140 KB