Enhanced extracellular polymeric substances production and aggravated membrane fouling potential caused by different disinfection treatment

Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) were the main cause of membrane biofouling in advanced treatment of wastewater. Disinfection was usually used to reduce microbial concentration in the feed water and prevent biofouling. However, the disinfection residual bacteria (DRB) could regrow to produce EPS, and there was still a paucity of information on EPS productivity and properties from DRB and their further interaction with membranes. In this study, three commonly-used disinfection methods (free chlorine, chloramine and ozone disinfection) were used to investigate their effects on microbial EPS production and the further effects on membrane fouling. It was found all the disinfection treatment increased the relative abundance of typical bacterial genus with high EPS production ability, and thus significantly enhanced EPS volumetric productivity (by 26%–82%). The molecular weight and fluorescence intensity of EPS produced by DRB also increased. The fouling potential of these EPS on ultrafiltration (UF) membranes and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes was then tested. EPS of DRB showed significantly higher fouling potential. Compared with the control group, the time for transmembrane pressure (TMP) increased to 3 bar decreased by 43%–49% in the constant-flow UF system in the disinfection groups. As for the constant-pressure RO systems, the final flux decreased by 33%–41% in the disinfection groups compared with the control group. The thickness of foulants on UF and RO membranes in the disinfection groups was all higher than that in the control group. The extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (XDLVO) theory further showed that the EPS of DRB had significantly higher interaction energy with membranes than that in the control group. Therefore, caution should be exercised when oxidizing disinfection was used as pre-treatment for membrane filtration in the wastewater reclamation process.