Prevention Of Swro Membrane Fouling Using Nano-Alumina Depth Filter

This work investigates the effectiveness of seawater pre-treatment for the prevention of membrane fouling during reverse osmosis (RO) using an upstream nano-aluminia depth filter. Data from atomic force and scanning electron microscopy, and attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, show that there is a substantial reduction in fouling of RO membranes when a nano-alumina depth filter is used. The filter improved the performance of the RO membranes by removing the majority of substances that cause membrane fouling, including transparent exopolymer particles, micro-organisms and metals. This result demonstrates that nano-alumina filters are an effective and low-cost approach to the pre-treatment of RO membrane systems.