Enzymatic treatment of alginate to reduce membrane fouling for water or wastewater purification
First Claim
1. A method of reducing membrane fouling by organic substances in water treatment, the method comprising:
- treating organic foulants by introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate on a concentrate side of a membrane within a process line of a filtration system, wherein said introducing occurs at least 30 minutes prior to the water containing alginate and introduced alginate lyase contacting the filtration membrane.
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Accused Products
Abstract
This disclosure examines using alginate lyase to catalytically degrade alginate in order to decrease affinity and fouling potential to membranes of 0.2 and 0.02 μm pore size, respectively within a process line of a filtration system. Enzymatically treated alginate caused less fouling on both ultrafiltration and microfiltration membranes than original alginate. Enzymatically treated alginate is predicted to cause less fouling on both membranes within the pH range of approximately 3.0 to approximately 10.0. Without the presence of calcium cation, alginate lyase reduced the foulant resistance by more than 82% for both membranes. In the presence of 1 mM calcium cation, alginate lyase reduced the foulant resistance by more than 55%. In addition, the foulant structure composed of enzymatically treated alginate was more readily removed by backwashing, suggesting reversible fouling. The advantages of using enzymatic technique to control membrane fouling include high efficiency and no damage to the membrane materials.
7 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of reducing membrane fouling by organic substances in water treatment, the method comprising:
treating organic foulants by introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate on a concentrate side of a membrane within a process line of a filtration system, wherein said introducing occurs at least 30 minutes prior to the water containing alginate and introduced alginate lyase contacting the filtration membrane. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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12. A method of promoting reversible membrane fouling by alginate in water treatment, the method comprising:
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filtering water containing alginate wherein a membrane is fouled by alginate during said filtering, and treating organic foulants by introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate within a process line of a filtration system, wherein enzymatic reactions resulting from said introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate begin at least 30 minutes prior to the water with introduced alginate lyase contacting the membrane or introducing alginate lyase in the backwashing solution within a process line of a filtration system. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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25. A method of reducing membrane fouling by alginate in water treatment, the method comprising:
introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate within a process line of a filtration system, wherein enzymatic reactions resulting from said introducing alginate lyase to water containing alginate begin at least 30 minutes prior to the water containing alginate and introduced alginate lyase contacting a filtration membrane within said filtration system.
Specification