Abstract
Quorum Quenching (QQ) has been developed over the last few years to overcome practical issues related to membrane biofouling, which is currently the major difficulty thwarting the extensive development of membrane bioreactors (MBRs). QQ is the disruption of Quorum Sensing (QS), cell-to-cell communication enabling the bacteria to harmonize their behavior. The production of biofilm, which is recognized as a major part of the biocake formed on a membrane surface, and which leads to biofouling, has been found to be one of the bacterial behaviors controlled by QS. Since the enzymatic disruption of QS was reported to be efficient as a membrane biofouling mitigation technique in MBRs, the application of QQ to lab-scale MBRs has been the subject of much research using different approaches under different operating conditions. This paper gives an overview of the effectiveness of QQ in mitigating membrane biofouling in MBRs. It is based on the results of previous studies, using two microbial strains, Rhodococcus sp. BH4 and Pseudomonas sp. 1A1. The effect of bacterial QQ on the physical phenomena of the MBR process is analyzed, adopting an original multi-scale approach. Finally, the potential influence of the MBR operating conditions on QQ effectiveness is discussed.
Highlights
Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are considered as the most effective technology in advanced wastewater treatment (WWT)
Membrane fouling is a term that encompasses all the phenomena inducing the deterioration of membrane performance by a severe loss of permeability, which further results in higher energy consumption to maintain the process productivity and a heightened need to clean or replace the membrane, which leads to a substantial increase in operating costs
Membrane fouling is partly attributed to biofouling, which is defined as the complex combination of several mechanisms: deposition and accumulation of biosolids from the mixed liquor, microbial growth on the membrane, pore clogging by microorganisms and Membranes 2016, 6, 52; doi:10.3390/membranes6040052
Summary
Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are considered as the most effective technology in advanced wastewater treatment (WWT). Part of theA biocake is composed of biofilm, whichofrefers to the bacterial to the bacterial tendency to grow as a confined population forming cell clusters embedded in a selftendency to grow as a confined population forming cell clusters embedded in a self-produced slimy produced slimy matrix composed of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS). [7,8,9].,the theprevalent prevalentbacterial bacterialcommunication communication These molecules believed to be Gram-negative QS which is ensured through AHLs as autoinducers. These molecules are are composed composed of of aa lactone lactone ring ring and and an an acylated acylated chain chain containing containing four four to to 18carbons.
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