Novel use of ferrous iron/peroxymonosulfate for high-performance seawater desalination pretreatment under harmful algal blooms

Boyan Xu; Xiaohui Lu; Yuyao Fu; Liyue Diao; Heng Liang; Sungwoo Bae; How Yong Ng; Jun Ma

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.120758

Novel use of ferrous iron/peroxymonosulfate for high-performance seawater desalination pretreatment under harmful algal blooms

Water Res. 2023 Dec 1:247:120758. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120758. Epub 2023 Oct 18.

Authors

Boyan Xu¹, Xiaohui Lu², Yuyao Fu³, Liyue Diao³, Heng Liang⁴, Sungwoo Bae³, How Yong Ng⁵, Jun Ma⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Water Research, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, 519087, China; National University of Singapore Environmental Research Institute, 5A Engineering Drive 1, 117411, Singapore. Electronic address: e0204955@u.nus.edu.
² College of Environmental Science, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu, 611130, China; State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China.
³ National University of Singapore Environmental Research Institute, 5A Engineering Drive 1, 117411, Singapore.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China.
⁵ Center for Water Research, Advanced Institute of Natural Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai, 519087, China; National University of Singapore Environmental Research Institute, 5A Engineering Drive 1, 117411, Singapore. Electronic address: huanghy@bnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 37918194
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120758

Abstract

Marine harmful algae bloom (HAB) is a growing threat to desalination plants worldwide. This work proposes ferrous iron/peroxymonosulfate (Fe²⁺/PMS) as a novel pretreatment technology for seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) under HAB. Herein, Fe²⁺/PMS achieved a significantly higher reduction of negative charge of algae-laden seawater as compared to conventional coagulation (i.e., coagulant is Fe³⁺), which thereby facilitated improved flocculation to remove algal cells, turbidity and algal organics matters (AOMs), and marine Ca²⁺ (∼430 mg/L) could partially contribute to the enhanced coagulation performance. A new understanding of the improved coagulation efficiency achieved with Fe²⁺/PMS in seawater has been proposed as compared to freshwater: seawater matrix (e.g., 504 mM Cl^-) was demonstrated to significantly enhance the generation of high-valent iron (FeO²⁺) as the main reactive intermediate instead of the long-recognized Fe³⁺ and free radicals, as revealed by methyl phenyl sulfoxide (PMSO) probe, radicals scavenging analysis and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra. This new mechanism is expected to provide valuable insights for the development of more novel oxidative seawater treatment technologies. Of note, while trade-off between particles and AOMs played an important role in membrane fouling reduction by different dosages of Fe²⁺/PMS, Fe²⁺/PMS with an optimal dosage of 0.1 mM/0.05 mM achieved an unprecedentedly higher reduction (95.26%) of modified fouling index (MFI) as compared to conventional coagulation (13.28%-42.36% with 0.1-0.2 mM of Fe³⁺). Optical-photothermal infrared spectromicroscopy with sub-micron spatial resolution was employed to analyze membrane foulants for the first time, and Fe²⁺/PMS was found to mainly cause reduced cake layer resistance, which was attributed to the collectively reduced concentration of algae cells, micro-particles with sizes from 2 to 10 µm, humic substances and biopolymers. Moreover, Fe²⁺/PMS resulted in lower dissolved Fe³⁺ (<0.027 mg/L) in ultrafiltration (UF) permeate, which would make it more reliable for SWRO operation as compared to conventional coagulation. When energy-intensive dissolved air flotation (DAF) was employed to withstand HAB, Fe²⁺/PMS outperformed it and was instrumental in achieving reduced MFI with 56.4% lower operational cost. In this context, Fe²⁺/PMS would facilitate a high-performance and low-cost pretreatment technology for seawater desalination plants under HAB.

Keywords: Algal blooms; Coagulation; Desalination; Ferrous iron/peroxymonosulfate (Fe(II)/PMS); Membrane fouling; Seawater pretreatment.

MeSH terms

Harmful Algal Bloom
Iron*
Membranes, Artificial
Seawater
Water Purification* / methods

Substances

Iron
peroxymonosulfate
Membranes, Artificial