Effects of cold temperature and chemical cleaning on performance, membrane fouling and its control in drinking water membrane filtration

膜过滤技术以其去除污染物效果好、效率高、占地面积小、操作方便、过滤寿命长、饮用水水质优良等优点，在世界各地的饮用水生产中得到了广泛的应用。然而，温度是影响膜过滤性能的一个重要因素。加拿大的地理位置导致许多城市每年都有几个月的寒冷气温。在饮用水生产中，低温对膜过滤有很大的负面影响。每年，由于运行和膜清洗不佳，以及膜结构在寒冷温度下劣化，每个膜过滤厂都会以换膜的形式浪费数千美元。此外，通常使用化学清洗来控制膜污染。一些广泛使用的化学清洗剂，如次氯酸钠，会对膜结构产生明显的负面影响，从而导致膜老化，降低膜的使用寿命。因此，寻找这些清洗剂的替代品是非常可取的。这项拟议的研究将通过进行台式、中试和全尺寸研究，加深对低温和化学清洗对膜性能、污染及其控制和膜结构的影响的基本理解。将开发新的运行和膜清洗策略，以优化加拿大寒冷地区饮用水膜过滤厂的性能。这项研究的发现将有助于饮用水膜过滤厂最大限度地提高生产率，最大限度地减少膜污染，减少化学物质的使用和运行成本，并延长膜的使用寿命。

Membrane filtration technology has been widely used for drinking water production all over the world, due to its advantages in better removal of contaminants, high efficiency, small footprint, easy operation, long filtration life, and superior quality of drinking water-free of solids, pathogens, virus and bacteria. However, temperature is a significant factor that affects the performance of membrane filtration. The geographical locations of Canada lead to months of cold temperature each year for many municipalities. The cold temperature has dramatically negative influence on membrane filtration in drinking water production. Each year, thousands of dollars are wasted in each membrane filtration plant in the form of membrane replacements, due to poor operation and membrane cleaning, and membrane structure deterioration in cold temperature. Furthermore, chemical cleanings are routinely used for membrane fouling control. Some of the widely used chemical cleaning agents, such as sodium hypochlorite, have significantly negative impact on membrane structure and thus cause membrane aging and reduce membrane lifespan. Thus, finding replacements for these cleaning agents are highly desirable. The proposed study will develop an improved fundamental understanding of the effect of cold temperature and chemical cleaning on membrane performance, fouling and its control, and membrane structure by conducting bench-, pilot-, and full-scale studies. New operating and membrane cleaning strategies will be developed to optimize the performance of drinking water membrane filtration plants in cold regions in Canada. The findings from this study will help drinking water membrane filtration plants to maximize productivity, minimize membrane fouling, reduce chemical usage and operating costs, and extend membrane lifespan.