Abstract Because of the uneven distribution of fresh water in time and space, a large number of regions are experiencing water scarcity and stress. Membrane based desalination technologies have the potential to solve the fresh water crisis in coastal areas. However, in many cases membrane performance is restricted by biofouling. The objective of this review is to provide an overview on the state of the art strategies to control biofouling in spiral wound reverse osmosis membrane systems and point to possible future research directions. A critical review on biofouling control strategies such as feed water pre-treatment, membrane surface modification, feed spacer geometry optimization and hydrodynamics in spiral wound membrane systems is presented. In conclusion, biofouling cannot be avoided in the long run, and thus biofouling control strategies should focus on delaying the biofilm formation, reducing its impact on membrane performance and enhancing biofilm removal by advanced cleaning strategies. Therefore, future studies should aim on: (i) biofilm structural characterization; (ii) understanding to what extent biofilm properties affect membrane filtration performance, and (iii) developing methods to engineer biofilm properties such that biofouling would have only a low or delayed impact on the filtration process and accumulated biomass can be easily removed.

中文翻译：

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螺旋缠绕膜系统生物污染缓解策略综述

摘要 由于淡水时空分布不均，大量地区正面临水资源短缺和压力。基于膜的海水淡化技术有可能解决沿海地区的淡水危机。然而，在许多情况下，膜性能受到生物污染的限制。本综述的目的是概述控制螺旋缠绕反渗透膜系统中生物污垢的最新策略，并指出未来可能的研究方向。对生物污染控制策略（例如给水预处理、膜表面改性、进料间隔几何优化和螺旋缠绕膜系统中的流体动力学）进行了批判性审查。总之，从长远来看，生物污垢是无法避免的，因此，生物污垢控制策略应侧重于延迟生物膜的形成，减少其对膜性能的影响，并通过先进的清洁策略增强生物膜的去除。因此，未来的研究应着眼于：（i）生物膜结构特征；(ii) 了解生物膜特性在多大程度上影响膜过滤性能，以及 (iii) 开发设计生物膜特性的方法，以便生物污垢对过滤过程的影响很小或延迟，并且可以轻松去除积累的生物质。