Synergetic effect on fouling alleviating of membrane distillation in urine resource recovery by thermally activated peroxydisulfate pretreatment

Yaping Lyu; Xiuwei Ao; Zongsu Wei; Shikun Cheng; Xiaoqin Zhou; Nana Liu; Xuemei Wang; Rui Feng; Zifu Li

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.117013

Synergetic effect on fouling alleviating of membrane distillation in urine resource recovery by thermally activated peroxydisulfate pretreatment

Environ Res. 2023 Nov 15;237(Pt 2):117013. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117013. Epub 2023 Aug 28.

Authors

Yaping Lyu¹, Xiuwei Ao², Zongsu Wei³, Shikun Cheng⁴, Xiaoqin Zhou⁵, Nana Liu⁶, Xuemei Wang⁷, Rui Feng⁸, Zifu Li⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: 13001012362@163.com.
² School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: axw92@ustb.edu.cn.
³ Centre for Water Technology (WATEC), Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Aarhus University, Universitetsbyen 36, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: zwei@bce.au.dk.
⁴ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: chengshikun@ustb.edu.cn.
⁵ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zhouxiaoqin025@163.com.
⁶ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: 1843319824@qq.com.
⁷ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: b1910138@ustb.edu.cn.
⁸ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: ustbfengrui@163.com.
⁹ School of Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China; Beijing Key Laboratory of Resource-oriented Treatment of Industrial Pollutants, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, PR China. Electronic address: zifulee@aliyun.com.

PMID: 37648190
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.117013

Abstract

Given that the spontaneous precipitation of minerals caused by urea hydrolysis and abundant organic compounds, membrane fouling became a major obstacle for urine recovery by membrane distillation (MD). Herein, this study developed a combined system (TAP-MD) by integrating thermally activated peroxydisulfate (TAP) and MD process to inhibit membrane fouling and improve separation efficiency. Based on the TAP-MD system, the separation performance was improved significantly, improving nutrient recovery efficiency and quality of reclaimed water. More than 80% of water could be recovered from urine, and about 94.13% of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN), 99.02% of total nitrogen (TN), 100% of total phosphate (TP), and 100% of K⁺ were rejected. The mechanism for alleviating urine-induced fouling was systematically and intensively studied. With TAP pretreatment, the TAN concentration of pretreated urine was kept at a low level steadily and the pH was at neutral or weakly acidic. Hence, inorganic scaling represented by carbonate and phosphate precipitates were significantly inhibited by creating unfavorable solvent environment for crystallization with TAP pretreatment. Additionally, aromatic proteins were found as the main organic foulants. According to the secondary structure of protein, the proteins were degraded by the cleavage of peptide bonds by TAP pretreatment. Meanwhile, the hydrophilicity of protein increased, which reduced the hydrophobic interaction of protein and membrane surface and thus alleviated protein-induced membrane fouling. This study revealed the inorganic and organic foulants in urine that caused membrane fouling and demonstrated the mechanism of membrane fouling alleviation by TAP-MD system. The experimental results will be instrumental in better understanding the mechanisms of membrane fouling induced by urine and optimize MD process for resource recovery from urine.

Keywords: Human urine; Membrane distillation; Membrane fouling alleviation; Resource recovery; Sanitation.