With an ever-increasing human population, access to clean water for human use is a growing concern across the world. Seawater desalination to produce usable water is essential to meet future clean water demand. Desalination processes, such as reverse osmosis and multi-stage flash have been implemented worldwide. Reverse osmosis is the most effective technology, which uses a semipermeable membrane to produce clean water under an applied pressure. However, membrane biofouling is the main issue faced by such plants, which requires continuous cleaning or regular replacement of the membranes. Chlorination is the most commonly used disinfection process to pretreat the water to reduce biofouling. Although chlorination is widely used, it has several disadvantages, such as formation of disinfection by-products and being ineffective against some types of microbes. This review aims to discuss the adverse effect of chlorination on reverse osmosis membranes and to identify other possible alternatives of chlorination to reduce biofouling of the membranes. Reverse osmosis membrane degradation and mitigation of chlorines effects, along with newly emerging disinfection technologies, are discussed, providing insight to both academic institutions and industries for the design of improved reverse osmosis systems.

随着人口的不断增长，获得清洁用水供人类使用已成为世界范围内日益关注的问题。海水淡化以生产可用水对于满足未来的清洁水需求至关重要。反渗透和多级闪蒸等脱盐工艺已在全球范围内实施。反渗透是最有效的技术，它使用半透膜在施加的压力下产生清洁的水。然而，膜生物污染是此类设备面临的主要问题，需要连续清洁或定期更换膜。氯化是最常用的消毒方法，用于预处理水以减少生物积垢。尽管氯化作用已被广泛使用，但它有几个缺点，例如形成消毒副产品，并且对某些类型的微生物无效。这篇综述旨在讨论氯化对反渗透膜的不利影响，并确定氯化的其他可能替代方法，以减少膜的生物污染。讨论了反渗透膜的降解和氯的缓解作用，以及新兴的消毒技术，为设计改进的反渗透系统的学术机构和工业界提供了见识。