Electrically conductive membranes for anti-biofouling in membrane distillation with two novel operation modes: Capacitor mode and resistor mode.

This study evaluated the anti-biofouling efficacy of capacitor mode and resistor mode in membrane distillation (MD). Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane coated with carbon nanotube (CNT) was adopted as the electrically conductive membrane. The biofouling formation on the pre-treatment membrane was systematically analyzed, and the results showed that both operation modes had obvious inhabitation on bacteria, especially the capacitor mode exhibited stronger prevention capability on biomass accumulation than resistor mode. NMDs analysis of microbial communities further revealed that the anti-biofouling effect mainly occurred on the membrane surface, and gram-positive biomarkers which can survive better in external electric field was distinctively found in capacitor mode through LEfSE analysis. Hypothesis was introduced to explain the anti-fouling function of two modes that in the capacitor mode, the competitive electrostatic repulsion of bacteria cells on negative electrode associated by the cell-disruption effect of electro-catalyzed reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, while the anti-fouling function of resistor mode was a result of temperature increment on membrane surface caused by Joule heating effects. This article attempts to provide an insight of anti-fouling mechanism of electric field applied in MD and to prove the feasibility of above-mentioned operation modes as non-chemical methods for optimization of membrane-based water treatment process.