Abstract
Inorganic-organic contaminants in mine wastewater treatment constantly challenge the performance of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. In this work, the main pollutants are calcium ions, soluble silicate, and fulvic acid (FA). We investigate the membrane contamination response of these contaminants in single cases and several composite scenarios. It turns out that membrane fouling is significantly affected by differences in feed composition and content. When all three contaminants coexist, the Lewis acid-base (AB) interaction may dominate the contamination process. When the Ca2+ concentration was raised from 0 to 7 mM, the AB energy between foulants decreased from −77.47 KT to −98.84 KT at the minimum separation distance. This study highlights the impact of typical inorganic and organic pollutants in the RO process, which could help optimize feed conditions while also giving a comparable theory for the water treatment sector.
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