Membrane biofouling is a major problem in the operation of water treatment plants. Biofouling leads to increased energy and cleaning expenditures and decreased final water quality. Current control measures, including disinfection of feed waters, and antibiofouling membranes proposed in the literature have not been broadly effective. Some of these approaches may delay biofouling but they don’t actively inhibit biofilm growth upon attachment and can exacerbate the problem because biofilm formation is a protective response of bacteria. Therefore, we propose to develop innovative antibiofouling membranes incorporating biofilm inhibiting 2-aminoimidazoles (2-AIs). We focus this study on the development of anti-biofouling polyamide thin-film composite (TFC) membranes for water desalination and reuse applications. 2-AIs are known to suppress the ability of bacteria across different orders, classes, and phyla to sense and respond to environmental stimuli. Thus, 2-AIs interfere with biofilm formation on surfaces by preventing responses such as surface attachment, excretion of extracellular polymeric substances, biofilm maintenance, growth, and quorum sensing. 2-AIs have already been used in medical, agricultural, and marine applications for biofilm formation inhibition applications. We have successfully incorporated 2-AIs into polyamide TFC membranes both during active layer casting and into commercial membranes post-fabrication. These incorporation methods can easily be integrated by manufacturers into their current production procedures. We will discuss the incorporation of 2-AIs, as well as the effect of 2-AIs on membrane biofouling, physical properties, and performance. Although there is further opportunity to optimize, preliminary results show up to 86% inhibition of biofilm, while water permeability and salt rejection has been maintained. 2-AI membranes have the potential to greatly decrease biofouling during operation through actively disrupting the mechanisms that lead to biofilm formation, improving energy efficiency and decreasing cleaning costs.

Development of innovative anti-biofouling polyamide thin film composite membranes with biofilm inhibiting 2-aminoimidazoles incorporated

251st National Meeting (2016)

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