Effect of temperature on extracellular organic matter (EOM) of Chlorella pyrenoidosa and effect of EOM on irreversible membrane fouling.

Extracellular organic matter (EOM) can cause serious membrane fouling during the algae harvesting process. In this study, the secretion of EOM, including bound-EOM (bEOM) and dissolved-EOM (dEOM), by Chlorella pyrenoidosa (C. pyrenoidosa) at different culturing temperatures, and their influences on membrane filtration, have been investigated. The secretion of EOM was markedly reduced at high temperatures. The specific EOM secretion rate (SEOM) reached 831.1 ± 55.3mg/g at the lowest temperatures of 15 °C; in contrast, the SEOM decreased to only 370-442 and 356-406 mg/g with temperature rising above 20-25 and 30-35 °C, respectively. Based on membrane filtration experiments, the influence of EOM on irreversible membrane fouling was studied. In a critical flux experiment, low critical flux (24 L/m(2)h) was observed in a system with a high EOM concentration. The fouled membranes were rinsed by water and then used for continuous filtration, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis. The results revealed that there was irreversible membrane fouling caused by EOM, and irreversible membrane fouling can be more serious when an algae solution contains high EOM levels.