Abstract
Adsorption of organic matter on membranes plays a major role in determining the fouling behaviour of membranes. This study investigated effluent organic matter (EfOM) adsorption behaviour onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane blended with SiO2 nanoparticles using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The QCM-D results suggested that low adsorption of EfOM and an EfOM layer with a non-rigid and open structure was formed on SiO2-terminated membrane surfaces. Conformational assessment showed that EfOM undergoes adsorption via two steps: (i) in the initial stage, a rapid adsorption of EfOM accumulated onto the membrane; (ii) the change in dissipation was still occurring when the adsorption frequency reached balance, and the layer tended towards a more rearranged or organized secondary structure upon adsorption onto the more hydrophilic surface. For the AFM force test, when a self-made EfOM-coated probe approached the membrane, a ‘jump-in’ was observed for the hydrophobic membrane after repulsion at a small distance, while only repulsive forces were observed for PVDF/SiO2 membranes. This study demonstrated that the PVDF/SiO2 membrane changed the entire filtration process, forming a ‘soft’ open conformation in the foulant layer.
Highlights
Adsorption of organic matter on membranes plays a major role in determining the fouling behaviour of membranes
This study investigated effluent organic matter (EfOM) adsorption behaviour onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane blended with SiO2 nanoparticles using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)
The QCM-D results suggested that low adsorption of EfOM and an EfOM layer with a non-rigid and open structure was formed on SiO2-terminated membrane surfaces
Summary
Adsorption of organic matter on membranes plays a major role in determining the fouling behaviour of membranes. This study investigated effluent organic matter (EfOM) adsorption behaviour onto poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) membrane blended with SiO2 nanoparticles using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). This study demonstrated that the PVDF/SiO2 membrane changed the entire filtration process, forming a ‘soft’ open conformation in the foulant layer. Few studies have analysed the effect of membrane chemical properties on the EfOM deposited on the membrane surface during the entire filtration process. It is largely unknown how the hydrophobicity of the membrane exerts an influence on the structure and mass of the adsorbed layer on the surface.
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