The almost hydrophobic PVDF membrane (PVDF matrix) commonly exhibited excellent performance in pollutant rejection but with poor anti-fouling performance. This study intended to develop the rejection performance and enhance anti-fouling of the PVDF membrane in an O3/UF/BAC system for high quality water production through leveraging the advantages of in-situ ozonation and the nature of the PVDF membrane. Reduced density gradient (RDG) analysis demonstrated that the PVDF membrane exhibited excellent ozone resistance by reducing hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions between the membrane surface and ozone. Consequently, the physicochemical properties of the PVDF membrane remained unchanged in the laboratory continuous flow experiment with in-situ ozonation at 2.86 mg/L. The almost hydrophobicity of the PVDF membrane not only resisted fouling but also facilitated the reaction between ozone and foulants of higher concentrations locally at membrane surface, leading to dynamic changes in membrane fouling, with TMP/TMP0 initially increasing, then decreasing and stable. Therefore, the Rtotal, Rcake and Rgel of the PVDF membrane decreased by 47.40 %, 46.79 % and 50.99 % as compared to the UF/BAC system, respectively, in the O3/UF/BAC system. In-situ ozonation transformed macromolecular substances into micromolecules, particularly organic matter with lignin/carboxylic-rich alicyclic molecules and aromatic structures. The majority of these micromolecules were either rejected by the deposited foulants layer through Van der Waals interaction and utilized as a carbon source by membrane surface microorganisms (eg., Curvibacter and Methyloversatilis), or further degraded by microorganism in the BAC unit. This resulted in a 19.34 % and 40.58 % reduction in CODMn concentrations in the UF and BAC effluents, respectively. The system's anti-fouling and water purification performance observed in laboratory experiments was confirmed in a pilot test, providing new insights into the use of in-situ ozonation and organic membranes.
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