This study examined the effects of conventional pretreatment and conventional pretreatment with
ozone and biofiltration (O3/BF) on organic fouling of reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. Project
goals included assessing the effects of O3/BF on natural organic matter (NOM) and how changes
to NOM affect RO fouling. NOM was characterized using ultrafiltration (UF) size fractionation
with ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm (UV254) to produce the following size fractions: >10 kDa,
10-3 kDa, 3-1 kDa, and <1 kDa. Salt rejection, specific flux, and differential pressure data were
used to evaluate RO membrane performance. Fouled RO membranes were analyzed with
scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Fourier
transform infrared photoacoustic spectroscopy (FTIR-PAS). Results showed conventional
pretreatment produced lower average turbidity and silt density index (SDI) than O3/BF, although
average SDI values for both pretreatment processes were higher (>3.0) than recommended for
RO membranes. NOM size distribution varied substantially between samples from the same
location, preventing an assessment of the effect of O3/BF on NOM and RO fouling. SEM
revealed visual morphologies indicative of colloidal and organic fouling. EDS identified
aluminum silicates and silica as sources of colloidal fouling, particularly after O3/BF. FTIR-PAS
indicated O3/BF caused more fouling and identified proteins, polysaccharides, and aluminum
silicates as the primary foulants, although overlapping polysaccharide and aluminum silicate
spectra obscured the relative contributions of these materials. Overall, conventional pretreatment
yielded better RO performance and less fouling than O3/BF pretreatment. Enhancing NOM
characterization techniques, evaluating alternative NOM characteristics, or reducing interference
from colloidal fouling could improve future studies on organic fouling of RO membranes. Includes 11 references, tables, figures.