Clues to membrane fouling hidden within the microbial communities of membrane bioreactors

Nuwan Asanka Weerasekara; Sung Geun Woo; Craig Criddle; Tahir Iqbal; Kibaek Lee; Yeong Jun Park; Jae Ho Shin; Kwang Ho Choo

doi:10.1039/c9ew00213h

Clues to membrane fouling hidden within the microbial communities of membrane bioreactors

Nuwan Asanka Weerasekara, Sung Geun Woo, Craig Criddle, Tahir Iqbal, Kibaek Lee, Yeong Jun Park, Jae Ho Shin, Kwang Ho Choo

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26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Membrane fouling is the major bottleneck limiting widespread adoption of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), but its root causes are not yet fully understood. In this study, different fouling patterns were observed for replicate MBRs seeded with the same inoculum and maintained under identical operating conditions, with similar levels of biomass, soluble microbial products, and extracellular polymeric substances. None of these had significant correlations with membrane fouling. Exogenous colloidal particles from a real plant did not have an impact on fouling propensity. Fouling appeared to be correlated with increased abundance of specific classes of bacteria, notably Alphaproteobacteria, Sphingobacteria, and Flavobacteria. The membrane biofouling layer had a different community structure from MBR mixed liquor, showing the two dominant phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1389-1399
Number of pages	11
Journal	Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology
Volume	5
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/c9ew00213h
State	Published - Aug 2019

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title = "Clues to membrane fouling hidden within the microbial communities of membrane bioreactors",

abstract = "Membrane fouling is the major bottleneck limiting widespread adoption of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), but its root causes are not yet fully understood. In this study, different fouling patterns were observed for replicate MBRs seeded with the same inoculum and maintained under identical operating conditions, with similar levels of biomass, soluble microbial products, and extracellular polymeric substances. None of these had significant correlations with membrane fouling. Exogenous colloidal particles from a real plant did not have an impact on fouling propensity. Fouling appeared to be correlated with increased abundance of specific classes of bacteria, notably Alphaproteobacteria, Sphingobacteria, and Flavobacteria. The membrane biofouling layer had a different community structure from MBR mixed liquor, showing the two dominant phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi.",

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year = "2019",

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doi = "10.1039/c9ew00213h",

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T1 - Clues to membrane fouling hidden within the microbial communities of membrane bioreactors

AU - Weerasekara, Nuwan Asanka

AU - Woo, Sung Geun

AU - Criddle, Craig

AU - Iqbal, Tahir

AU - Lee, Kibaek

AU - Park, Yeong Jun

AU - Shin, Jae Ho

AU - Choo, Kwang Ho

PY - 2019/8

Y1 - 2019/8

N2 - Membrane fouling is the major bottleneck limiting widespread adoption of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), but its root causes are not yet fully understood. In this study, different fouling patterns were observed for replicate MBRs seeded with the same inoculum and maintained under identical operating conditions, with similar levels of biomass, soluble microbial products, and extracellular polymeric substances. None of these had significant correlations with membrane fouling. Exogenous colloidal particles from a real plant did not have an impact on fouling propensity. Fouling appeared to be correlated with increased abundance of specific classes of bacteria, notably Alphaproteobacteria, Sphingobacteria, and Flavobacteria. The membrane biofouling layer had a different community structure from MBR mixed liquor, showing the two dominant phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi.

AB - Membrane fouling is the major bottleneck limiting widespread adoption of membrane bioreactors (MBRs), but its root causes are not yet fully understood. In this study, different fouling patterns were observed for replicate MBRs seeded with the same inoculum and maintained under identical operating conditions, with similar levels of biomass, soluble microbial products, and extracellular polymeric substances. None of these had significant correlations with membrane fouling. Exogenous colloidal particles from a real plant did not have an impact on fouling propensity. Fouling appeared to be correlated with increased abundance of specific classes of bacteria, notably Alphaproteobacteria, Sphingobacteria, and Flavobacteria. The membrane biofouling layer had a different community structure from MBR mixed liquor, showing the two dominant phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85069664710

U2 - 10.1039/c9ew00213h

DO - 10.1039/c9ew00213h

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85069664710

SN - 2053-1400

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EP - 1399

JO - Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology

JF - Environmental Science: Water Research and Technology

IS - 8

ER -

Clues to membrane fouling hidden within the microbial communities of membrane bioreactors

Abstract

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