Harnessing the potential of in-situ, electrically generated microbubbles via nickel foam for enhanced, low energy membrane fouling control

For membrane-based, water treatment technologies, fouling remains a significant challenge for pressure-driven processes. While many antifouling strategies have been proposed, there remains significant room for efficiency improvement. Direct application of microbubbles (MBs) at the membrane interface offers a promising approach for managing interfacial fouling through continuous physical interaction(s). Despite such potential, to date, integration and optimization of in-situ generated MBs at the membrane interface that are both highly antifouling with minimal energy inputs and unwanted side reactions remains mostly outstanding. Here we demonstrate the application of conductive, porous nickel foam for electrolysis-based generation of hydrogen microbubbles at a ultra-filtration (UF) membrane interface, which significantly mitigates membrane fouling for a range of model foulants. System characterization and optimization includes comparison of metal foams (Ni, Cu, Ti), faradic efficiencies, hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) curves, cyclic voltammetry, and quantification of hydrogen gas flux and bubble size, as a function of applied current. When optimized, we report rapid (<5 min) and near complete (∼99%) flux recovery for challenge water(s), consisting of calcium alginate, humic acid (HA), or SiO2 particles. For all, the described MB approach is also orders of magnitude more energy efficient when compared to conventional cleaning strategies. Finally, we demonstrate the MB-based regeneration/cleaning process is repeatable for ten cycles with a high challenge water (as a model oilfield brine). Taken together, this work presents a novel and highly efficient approach for the application of in-situ electrically generated MBs to support sustainable pressure-driven membrane processes.