SGER: Development of Silver/Copper Coated Membrane Feed Spacers for Biofouling Control

膜技术为满足日益严格的饮用水生产监管要求提供了巨大的希望。虽然其他技术可以实现类似的处理目标，但膜提供了显著的优势。例如，微滤(MF)和超滤(UF)膜可以或可以被配置为提供高水平的病原体去除，而不依赖于化学预处理，并提供较小的孔径绝对屏障，而介质过滤依赖于化学预处理来充分去除病原体。其他技术，如纳滤(NF)和反渗透(RO)膜，已经使替代水回收(即微咸水和海水)和废水再利用成为可能的解决方案，以解决日益严重的全球传统水源短缺问题。在处理传统水源时实施纳滤和反渗透工艺可以提供稳定的去除水平，从而消除了再生离子交换树脂或颗粒活性碳的需要。RO可以通过淡化海水和微咸水来满足未来的饮用水需求。虽然纳滤膜和反渗透膜一般不用于消毒，但它们为病毒和细菌的去除提供了额外的屏障，这对于间接饮用和废水回用是必不可少的。本研究的重点是生物污垢的预防。生物污染是指微生物聚集在膜表面和膜之间的进料间隔物上。在防止生物污染方面，大部分研究和开发都集中在给水的预处理、改进的清洗液、清洗程序和耐污染膜上。本项目的目标是用银或铜离子作为生物杀灭涂层来修饰反渗透螺旋缠绕元件所使用的进料间隔。传统上，这些离子是以电解或金属盐的形式添加到水中，以防止微生物生物膜对水进行消毒。

Membrane technologies offer great promise to meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements for potable water production. While other technologies can achieve similar treatment objectives, membranes offer notable advantages. For example, microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes may or can be configured to provide high levels of pathogen removal without dependence on chemical pretreatment and provide a smaller pore size absolute barrier, in contrast to media filtration which relies on chemical pretreatment for adequate pathogen removal. Other techniques such as nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes have made alternative water reclamation (i.e., brackish water and seawater) and wastewater reuse possible solutions to address the growing global scarcity of traditional water sources. Implementation of NF and RO processes in treating traditional water sources can provide a steady-state level of removal that eliminates the need for regeneration of ion exchange resins or granular activated carbon. RO can help meet future potable water demands through desalination of seawater and brackish waters. Although NF and RO membranes are generally not intended for disinfection, they provide an additional barrier for virus and bacteria removal, which is essential for indirect potable, wastewater reuse. The focus of this research is biofouling prevention. Biofouling is the accumulation of microorganisms onto the membrane surface and on the feed spacer as present between the envelopes. Most of the research and development in the area of biofouling prevention has focused on pretreatment of the feed water, improved cleaning solutions, cleaning procedures, and fouling resistant membranes. The goal of this project is to modify the feed spacers used by reverse osmosis spiral wound elements with silver or copper ions as biocidal coatings. Conventionally, these ions have been added into the water electrolytically or as metal salts to disinfect water against microbial biofilms.