Effect of organic micropollutants on biofouling in a forward osmosis process integrating seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation

This study systematically investigated the effect of organic micropollutants (OMPs) on biofouling in forward osmosis (FO) integrating wastewater treatment and seawater dilution. Synthetic (0.6 M sodium chloride) was used as a draw solution synthetic municipal feed solution. To evaluate impact OMPs replicate parallel study, supplemented with mixture 7 (OMPs-feed) without (control) during 8 batch filtration cycles replacement after each filtration. The FO performance (water flux), development microbial composition properties biofilm layers side membrane were studied. Compared to control OMPs, fed containing showed (i) initially same water flux decline first cycle, (ii) increasing cycle lower (iii) concentrations for total cells, ATP, EPS carbohydrates proteins layers, (iv) diversity community (indicating selective pressure) (v) rejection 6 OMPs. In essence, presence higher rejection, both illustrating better performance. has significant implication optimizing osmotic dilution terms operation rejection.