TY - JOUR
T1 - Biofouling mitigation of a membrane bioreactor for industrial wastewater treatment by quorum quenching
AU - Kim, Hyeok
AU - Noori, Abdolvahed
AU - Kim, Myung Hee
AU - Lee, Chungseob
AU - Ko, Je Hyeon
AU - Hwang, Byung Kook
AU - Lee, Kibaek
AU - Oh, Hyun Suk
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023
PY - 2024/1/15
Y1 - 2024/1/15
N2 - Quorum quenching (QQ) has been extensively studied in sewage treatment membrane bioreactors (MBRs) to alleviate biofouling, but its application in industrial-wastewater MBRs remains limited. This study confirmed the applicability of QQ in MBRs treating wastewater from the display manufacturing process. QQ alginate and QQ polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/alginate beads, which entrapped Bacillus sp. SDC-U1, a QQ isolate from tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH)-wastewater treatment sludge, were applied to a lab-scale MBR treating real wastewater containing TMAH, a developer used in the display manufacturing process. To immobilize pH-sensitive SDC-U1 on PVA/alginate beads, the first cross-linking solution's pH was adjusted to 5, followed by a 4 h incubation in Luria-Bertani broth to enhance the activity of SDC-U1. MBRs with QQ alginate and QQ PVA/alginate beads showed a 40 % and 365 % longer time to reach 30 kPa TMP, respectively, compared to MBRs without beads. QQ beads significantly reduced the concentration of various N-acyl homoserine lactones, which are signaling molecules involved in quorum sensing, in the MBR. The observation of biofilm on the membrane surface confirmed the biofouling mitigation by QQ application. This study demonstrates that biofouling can be effectively mitigated using appropriate QQ bacteria and their immobilization methods in industrial wastewater MBRs containing toxic substances like TMAH.
AB - Quorum quenching (QQ) has been extensively studied in sewage treatment membrane bioreactors (MBRs) to alleviate biofouling, but its application in industrial-wastewater MBRs remains limited. This study confirmed the applicability of QQ in MBRs treating wastewater from the display manufacturing process. QQ alginate and QQ polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/alginate beads, which entrapped Bacillus sp. SDC-U1, a QQ isolate from tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH)-wastewater treatment sludge, were applied to a lab-scale MBR treating real wastewater containing TMAH, a developer used in the display manufacturing process. To immobilize pH-sensitive SDC-U1 on PVA/alginate beads, the first cross-linking solution's pH was adjusted to 5, followed by a 4 h incubation in Luria-Bertani broth to enhance the activity of SDC-U1. MBRs with QQ alginate and QQ PVA/alginate beads showed a 40 % and 365 % longer time to reach 30 kPa TMP, respectively, compared to MBRs without beads. QQ beads significantly reduced the concentration of various N-acyl homoserine lactones, which are signaling molecules involved in quorum sensing, in the MBR. The observation of biofilm on the membrane surface confirmed the biofouling mitigation by QQ application. This study demonstrates that biofouling can be effectively mitigated using appropriate QQ bacteria and their immobilization methods in industrial wastewater MBRs containing toxic substances like TMAH.
KW - Industrial wastewater treatment
KW - Membrane biofouling
KW - Quorum quenching
KW - Quorum sensing
KW - Tetramethylammonium hydroxide
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85174853082&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.memsci.2023.122198
DO - 10.1016/j.memsci.2023.122198
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85174853082
SN - 0376-7388
VL - 690
JO - Journal of Membrane Science
JF - Journal of Membrane Science
M1 - 122198
ER -
