Abstract Various quorum quenching (QQ) media have been developed to mitigate membrane biofouling in a membrane bioreactor (MBR). However, most are expensive, unstable and easily trapped in hollow fibre membranes. Here, a sol-gel method was used to develop a mesoporous silica medium entrapping a QQ bacterial strain (Rhodococcus sp. BH4). The new silica QQ medium was able to remove quorum sensing signalling molecules via both adsorption (owing to their mesoporous hydrophobic structure) and decomposition with an enzyme (lactonase), preventing MBR biofouling without affecting the water quality. It also demonstrated a relatively long life span due to its non-biodegradability and its relatively small particle size (<1.0 mm), which makes it less likely to clog in a hollow fibre membrane module.

中文翻译：

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利用膜生物反应器制备用于废水处理的介孔二氧化硅群体淬灭介质

摘要 已开发出多种群体淬灭 (QQ) 介质来减轻膜生物反应器 (MBR) 中的膜生物污染。然而，大多数是昂贵的、不稳定的并且容易被困在中空纤维膜中。在这里，使用溶胶-凝胶方法开发了一种介孔二氧化硅介质，用于捕获 QQ 细菌菌株（红球菌属 BH4）。新的二氧化硅 QQ 介质能够通过吸附（由于其介孔疏水结构）和酶（内酯酶）分解来去除群体感应信号分子，从而在不影响水质的情况下防止 MBR 生物污染。由于其不可生物降解性和相对较小的粒径（<1.0 mm），它还表现出相对较长的使用寿命，这使得它不太可能堵塞中空纤维膜组件。