EAPSI: Early, Non-Invasive Detection of Microbial-Induced Degradation in Reverse Osmosis Membranes Using MRI

随着淡水在未来一个世纪变得更加稀缺，将需要补充传统的水源以满足需求。这将主要使用反渗透（RO）膜来完成，由于其低能耗，它可以从盐水或废水中提取清洁水。然而，反渗透膜很容易被微生物降解，在降解变得不可逆之前，我们检测细菌引起的损伤的能力有限。本项目将开创一种新的、无创的方法，利用磁共振成像（MRI）技术来识别反渗透膜上的细菌生长。这将首次允许在生长的早期阶段对这些膜上的微生物活动进行非侵入性检测，当膜损伤仍然可以预防时。为了开展这项研究，首席研究员，利用核磁共振成像测量氧气的专家，将与西澳大利亚大学的迈克尔·约翰斯博士合作，他是应用核磁共振成像检测反渗透膜的专家。由于储量减少、污染、气候变化导致的天气模式改变以及人口增长，下个世纪的淡水供应将会减少，因此需要补充传统的水源以满足需求。在过去的半个世纪里，反渗透（RO）膜从废水或盐水中分离出清洁水，由于能耗相对较低，已成为水净化的黄金标准。反渗透膜表现出的一个重要问题是对生物污染的敏感性，或者由于细菌生长而导致的降解，这通常是不可逆的。在过去的几十年里，医学研究人员发明了一种利用磁共振成像（MRI）测量氧浓度的新方法，并用它来量化组织和肿瘤中的氧。由于细菌的生长与氧气消耗有关，本项目的研究人员将重新利用这种氧气测量技术来识别反渗透膜中的生物污垢。由于MRI是非侵入性的，这将首次允许在没有破坏性采样的情况下早期检测微生物生长，允许工业膜操作员在损伤变得不可逆转之前对其膜进行处理。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和澳大利亚科学院共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持美国研究生进行暑期研究。

As fresh water becomes more scarce in the coming century, traditional water sources will need to be supplemented to meet demand. This will primarily be accomplished using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, which extract clean water from saltwater or wastewater, due to their low energy consumption. However, RO membranes are easily degraded by microbial growth, and we have limited ability to detect bacterial-induced damage before the degradation becomes irreversible. The present project will pioneer a new, non-invasive method for identifying bacterial growth on RO membranes using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology. This will allow for the first time the non-invasive detection of microbial activity on these membranes in the early stages of growth, when membrane damage can still be prevented. To conduct this research, the principal investigator, an expert in oxygen measurement using MRI, will collaborate with Dr. Michael Johns, an expert in applying MRI to RO membranes, at University of Western Australia. As fresh water availability decreases over the next century due to dwindling reserves, pollution, altered weather patterns resulting from climate change, and population growth, traditional water sources will need to be supplemented in order to meet demand. Over the last half century, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, which isolate clean water from wastewater or saltwater, have become the gold standard of water purification due to relatively low energy consumption. A significant problem exhibited by RO membranes is susceptibility to biofouling, or degradation due to bacterial growth, which is often irreversible by the time the problem has been identified. In the last few decades, medical researchers have devised a new method for measuring oxygen concentration using Magnetic Resonance Imagine (MRI), and have used it to quantify oxygen in tissues and tumors. Because bacterial growth is associated with oxygen consumption, the researcher of the present project will repurpose this oxygen measurement technique for the identification of biofouling in RO membranes. Because MRI is non-invasive, this will permit for the first time the early detection of microbial growth without destructive sampling, allowing industrial membrane operators to treat their membranes before damage becomes irreversible. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Australian Academy of Science.