Abstract 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.

中文翻译：

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开发用于控制反渗透水处理过程中生物污垢的定额淬火柱

摘要 生物污垢被认为是反渗透 (RO) 过程中最有问题的污垢类型之一，会导致高能量需求和运行成本。在过去的十年中，许多关于用于废水应用的膜生物反应器 (MBR) 系统的研究表明，破坏细菌之间的细胞间通讯，称为群体淬灭 (QQ)，是一种很有前途的抑制膜生物污染的方法。在这里，我们开发了 QQ 柱作为控制 RO 系统中生物污垢的新策略。QQ 柱是通过将重组细菌 QQ 菌株掺入水凝胶珠并将这些珠嵌入柱中来制备的。QQ 柱安装在 RO 模块的上游以降解 N-酰基高丝氨酸内酯，这是一种群体感应 (QS) 信号，来自以完全循环模式运行的实验室规模 RO 系统中的进料。QQ 柱将 RO 系统中信号分子的浓度降低了约 29%，并减轻了膜上生物膜的形成（细胞数量减少了 38.6%），从而使跨膜压力降低了 50.1%。这些结果表明，将 QQ 细菌整合到色谱柱中是控制 RO 系统中生物污垢的实用方法。