Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes

Biofouling is recognized as one of the most problematic fouling types in reverse osmosis (RO) processes and lead to high energy requirements and operating costs. Over the past decade, many studies on membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems for wastewater applications demonstrated that disrupting cell-cell...

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Main Authors: Lee, Seonki, Xu, Huijuan, Rice, Scott A., Chong, Tzyy Haur, Oh, Hyun-Suk
Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146812
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1468122021-03-13T20:11:28Z Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes Lee, Seonki Xu, Huijuan Rice, Scott A. Chong, Tzyy Haur Oh, Hyun-Suk School of Civil and Environmental Engineering School of Biological Sciences Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences and Engineering (SCELSE) Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment Quorum Sensing Quorum Quenching Biofouling is recognized as one of the most problematic fouling types in reverse osmosis (RO) processes and lead to high energy requirements and operating costs. Over the past decade, many studies on membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems for wastewater applications demonstrated that disrupting cell-cell communications among bacteria, called quorum quenching (QQ), is a promising approach to inhibit biofouling of membranes. Here, we developed the QQ-column as a novel strategy to control biofouling in RO systems. The QQ-column was prepared by incorporating a recombinant bacterial QQ strain into hydrogel beads and embedding these beads inside a column. The QQ-column was installed upstream of the RO module to degrade N-acyl homoserine lactone, a quorum sensing (QS) signal, from the feed in a laboratory-scale RO system operating in total recycle mode. The QQ-column reduced the concentrations of signal molecules by ~29% in an RO system and mitigated biofilm formation (38.6% reduction of cell number) on the membrane, consequently reducing the transmembrane pressure by 50.1%. These results demonstrate that integrating QQ bacteria into columns is a practical method to control biofouling in RO systems. Economic Development Board (EDB) National Research Foundation (NRF) Accepted version This study was supported by the Research Fund for a new professor by the SeoulTech (Seoul National University of Science and Technology). We also acknowledge financial support from the Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering, whose research is supported by the National Research Foundation Singapore, Ministry of Education, Nanyang Technological University and National University of Singapore, under its Research Centre of Excellence Programme. The funding support from the Economic Development Board (EDB) of Singapore to the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC), Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Nanyang Technological Univer- sity (NTU) is also acknowledged 2021-03-12T00:52:37Z 2021-03-12T00:52:37Z 2021 Journal Article Lee, S., Xu, H., Rice, S. A., Chong, T. H. & Oh, H. (2021). Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes. Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry, 94, 188-194. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jiec.2020.10.037 1226-086X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146812 10.1016/j.jiec.2020.10.037 94 188 194 en Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry © 2020 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. This paper was published in Journal of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry and is made available with permission of The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment
Quorum Sensing
Quorum Quenching
spellingShingle Engineering::Environmental engineering::Water treatment
Quorum Sensing
Quorum Quenching
Lee, Seonki
Xu, Huijuan
Rice, Scott A.
Chong, Tzyy Haur
Oh, Hyun-Suk
Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
description Biofouling is recognized as one of the most problematic fouling types in reverse osmosis (RO) processes and lead to high energy requirements and operating costs. Over the past decade, many studies on membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems for wastewater applications demonstrated that disrupting cell-cell communications among bacteria, called quorum quenching (QQ), is a promising approach to inhibit biofouling of membranes. Here, we developed the QQ-column as a novel strategy to control biofouling in RO systems. The QQ-column was prepared by incorporating a recombinant bacterial QQ strain into hydrogel beads and embedding these beads inside a column. The QQ-column was installed upstream of the RO module to degrade N-acyl homoserine lactone, a quorum sensing (QS) signal, from the feed in a laboratory-scale RO system operating in total recycle mode. The QQ-column reduced the concentrations of signal molecules by ~29% in an RO system and mitigated biofilm formation (38.6% reduction of cell number) on the membrane, consequently reducing the transmembrane pressure by 50.1%. These results demonstrate that integrating QQ bacteria into columns is a practical method to control biofouling in RO systems.
author2 School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
author_facet School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Lee, Seonki
Xu, Huijuan
Rice, Scott A.
Chong, Tzyy Haur
Oh, Hyun-Suk
format Article
author Lee, Seonki
Xu, Huijuan
Rice, Scott A.
Chong, Tzyy Haur
Oh, Hyun-Suk
author_sort Lee, Seonki
title Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
title_short Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
title_full Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
title_fullStr Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
title_full_unstemmed Development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
title_sort development of a quorum quenching-column to control biofouling in reverse osmosis water treatment processes
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146812
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