title: Biopolymer-induced calcium phosphate scaling in membrane-based water treatment systems: Langmuir model films studies.
abstract: Biofouling and scaling on reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) membranes during desalination of secondary and tertiary effluents pose an obstacle that limits the reuse of wastewater. In this study we explored the mineral scaling induced by biopolymers originated from bacterial biofilms: bovine serum albumin (BSA), fibrinogen, lysozyme and alginic acid, as well as an extracts of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) from bio-fouled RO membranes from wastewater treatment facility. Mineralization studies were performed on Langmuir films of the biopolymers deposited at the interface of a solution simulating RO desalination of secondary-treated wastewater effluents. All studied biopolymers and EPS induced heterogeneous mineralization of mainly calcium phosphate. Using IR spectroscopy coupled with systematic quantitative analysis of the surface pressure versus molecular-area isotherms, we determined the mineralization tendencies of the biopolymers to be in the order of: fibrinogen>lysozyme>BSA>alginic acid. The biopolymers and EPS studied here were found to be accelerators of calcium-phosphate mineralization. This study demonstrates the utilization of Langmuir surface-pressure area isotherms and a model solution in quantitatively assessing the mineralization tendencies of various molecular components of EPS in context of membrane-based water treatment systems.
authors.affiliation: Department of Desalination and Water Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel.
authors.forename: Yara N
authors.initials: YN
authors.lastname: Dahdal
authors.affiliation: Department of Desalination and Water Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel.
authors.forename: Yoram
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oren
authors.affiliation: Technische Universität München, Forschungs-Neutronenquelle Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II), D-85748 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Dietmar
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Schwahn
authors.affiliation: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS-FRM II, Outstation at FRM II, D-85747 Garching, Germany.
authors.forename: Vitaliy
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Pipich
authors.affiliation: Department of Desalination and Water Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel.
authors.forename: Moshe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herzberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Desalination and Water Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel.
authors.forename: Wang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ying
authors.affiliation: Department of Desalination and Water Treatment, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer Campus, 8499000, Israel. Electronic address: kasher@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Roni
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kasher
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel. Electronic address: hannarap@bgu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rapaport
mesh_terms: D000464:Alginates / Q000737:chemistry; D000818:Animals; D001704:Biopolymers / Q000737:chemistry*; D002130:Calcium Phosphates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002417:Cattle; D005340:Fibrinogen / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D020723:Glucuronic Acid / Q000737:chemistry; D006603:Hexuronic Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009113:Muramidase / Q000737:chemistry; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry; D013055:Spectrophotometry, Infrared; D013499:Surface Properties; D013816:Thermodynamics; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000464:Alginates; D001704:Biopolymers; D002130:Calcium Phosphates; D006603:Hexuronic Acids; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D020723:Glucuronic Acid; D005340:Fibrinogen; C020243:calcium phosphate; D009113:Muramidase
keywords: Biofilm; Biofouling; Calcium phosphate mineralization; Desalination; Reverse osmosis; Surface pressure-molecular area isotherms