This study investigated the feasibility of embedding two low-energy dilution desalination processes, namely osmotic dilution desalination (ODD; the FO-RO membrane configuration) and mixing dilution desalination (MDD; the UF-RO membrane configuration), in a conventional seawater desalination approach (i.e., seawater reverse osmosis) using real seawater and recycled wastewater. The removal efficacy of bacterial indicators (Clostridium perfringens and Escherichia coli), coliphage genera Microviradae, and Human adenovirus (HAdV) was assessed in influent/effluent samples collected from each membrane configuration. Mixing dilution of the influent feed waters reduced the number of all pathogenic contaminants as well as organic/inorganic compounds. The rejection rate of total suspended solids was 35.7% in FO to 63.6% in UF respectively, whereas that of total organic carbon was 53.8% and 56.9% in FO and UF, respectively. The FO membrane in the ODD process more efficiently removed viruses (5.0 LRV) and bacterial indicators (4.2 LRV) than the UF membrane (3.7 and 3.6 LRV, respectively). Nevertheless, the different methods of detection used in our study, such as culture-based and qPCR, were found to have significant influences on the LRVs. Comparative 16S rRNA sequencing indicated that the vast majority of bacterial indicators in RO permeating from the FO-RO and UF-RO configurations were nonpathogenic strains.

本研究调查了在传统海水淡化方法中嵌入两种低能量稀释海水淡化工艺的可行性，即渗透稀释海水淡化（ODD；FO-RO 膜配置）和混合稀释海水淡化（MDD；UF-RO 膜配置） （即海水反渗透）使用真正的海水和再生废水。细菌指标（除去功效产气荚膜梭菌和大肠杆菌），大肠杆菌噬菌体属Microviradae，和人腺病毒（的HAdV) 在从每个膜配置收集的流入/流出样品中进行评估。进水的混合稀释减少了所有病原污染物以及有机/无机化合物的数量。总悬浮固体在 FO 中的截留率分别为 35.7% 和 63.6% 在 UF 中，而总有机碳在 FO 和 UF 中的截留率分别为 53.8% 和 56.9%。ODD 过程中的 FO 膜比 UF 膜（分别为 3.7 和 3.6 LRV）更有效地去除病毒（5.0 LRV）和细菌指示剂（4.2 LRV）。尽管如此，我们研究中使用的不同检测方法，例如基于培养的和 qPCR，被发现对 LRV 有显着影响。