On the cleaning procedure of reverse osmosis membrane fouled by steel wastewater

• Published in: The Korean journal of chemical engineering Vol. 33; no. 9; pp. 2668 - 2673
• Main Authors: Mei, Yingxin, Li, Haigang, Xia, Huanjin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.09.2016; Springer Nature B.V; 한국화학공학회
• Subjects: Aliphatic hydrocarbons; Alkaline cleaning; Biotechnology; Catalysis; Chelating agents; Chelation; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acids; Fouling; Hydroxides; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Materials Science; Membranes; Metal oxides; Oxidizing agents; Photoelectrons; Reverse osmosis; Separation Technology; Sodium hypochlorite; Thermodynamics; Wastewater; Water reclamation; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; 화학공학; Integrated Cleaning; Steel Wastewater; Cleaning; Reverse Osmosis; Metallic Oxides
• ISSN: 0256-1115; 1975-7220
• DOI: 10.1007/s11814-016-0120-8

The proper cleaning procedure for reverse osmosis (RO) membranes holds the key to achieving sustainable operation of RO processes during long-term filtration such as the reclamation of wastewater. In this study, the most adequate cleaning protocol was tested for RO membranes fouled by the steel wastewater. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis of the fouling layer revealed the presence of the aromatics, aliphatic hydrocarbons, metallic oxides and hydroxides. An integrated cleaning procedure was developed for flux recovery. That is, metal chelating agent (MCA) plus alkaline-oxidant cleaning procedure consisting in one cleaning stage or two cleaning stages in series. MCA cleaning with 2 mM disodium ethylenediaminetetraacetate (Na 2 -EDTA) solution followed by alkaline-oxidant cleaning with 5 mM NaOCl+NaOH/pH 12.0 solution provided the maximum cleaning efficiency.