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Synergistic effects of microplastics and organic foulants on the performance of forward osmosis membranes

Chemosphere 2022 27 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 40 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Mehdi Khiadani, Mitra Golgoli, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Mitra Golgoli, Mitra Golgoli, Masoumeh Zargar, Tushar Kanti Sen, Tushar Kanti Sen, Masoumeh Zargar, Mitra Golgoli, Masoumeh Zargar, Mehdi Khiadani, Masoumeh Zargar, Amir Razmjou Amir Razmjou Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Michael L. Johns, Tushar Kanti Sen, Mehdi Khiadani, Amir Razmjou Amir Razmjou Michael L. Johns, Michael L. Johns, Michael L. Johns, Michael L. Johns, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Mehdi Khiadani, Mehdi Khiadani, Amir Razmjou Mehdi Khiadani, Masoumeh Zargar, Amir Razmjou Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Michael L. Johns, Michael L. Johns, Michael L. Johns, Masoumeh Zargar, Amir Razmjou Amir Razmjou Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Masoumeh Zargar, Amir Razmjou

Summary

Researchers found that microplastics and humic acid together cause greater fouling of forward osmosis membranes than either contaminant alone, with combined exposure producing a higher flux decline — a key consideration for designing wastewater treatment systems that use membrane filtration.

Study Type Environmental

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging contaminants that are abundantly present in the influent and effluent of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Forward osmosis (FO) is an advanced treatment technology with potential applications in WWTPs. The presence of MPs in WWTP effluents can contribute to FO fouling and performance deterioration. This study focuses on FO membrane fouling by MPs of different sizes, and the interactional impacts of MPs and Humic acid (HA) (as the most common organic foulant in WWTPs) on FO membrane performance. The synergistic effect of combined MPs and HA fouling is shown to cause higher flux decline for FO membranes than that of HA or MPs alone. Reverse salt flux increased in the presence of MPs, and decreased when HA was present. Further, full flux recovery was obtained for all fouled membranes after hydraulic cleaning. This indicates the efficiency of FO systems for treating wastewater with high fouling potential. This study highlights the necessity of considering MPs in studying fouling behaviour, and for mitigation strategies of membranes used in WWT. The fundamentals created here can be further extended to other membrane-assisted separation processes.

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