Determination of perchlorate rejection and associated inorganic fouling (scaling) for reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes under various operating conditions

This study focused on perchlorate (ClO₄^-) rejection and flux-decline in bench-scale cross-flow flat-sheet filtration for two reverse osmosis (RO) and two nanofiltration (NF) membranes with a natural water, and addressed estimation of precipitative fouling/scaling with inorganic salts and characterizations of inorganic fouling and antiscalants. Thus the study considered tradeoffs between productivity (increased recovery and flux) versus ClO₄^- rejection versus membrane fouling/scaling. In this study, the rejection of water quality parameters (cations, anions, dissolved organic carbon, UVA₂₅₄, total dissolved solids) and flux-decline trends for four different membranes were investigated over a various range of operating conditions (i.e., J₀/k ratio and recovery). Inorganic foulants on the membrane surface were analyzed by various methods (i.e., x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy), and demonstrated inhibition effects of antiscalant. With increasing recovery and J₀/k ratio, high productivity (flux) was achieved, however, the rejections of perchlorate and other water quality parameters decreased and the precipitative fouling/scaling potential of membranes increased. At the same operating conditions in the presence of an antiscalant, embodying phosphonate functional groups, flux decline trends for the four membranes indicated lower scale formation supported by the results of the fouled membrane characterizations. Journal of Environmental Engineering