Membrane-based separation technologies, as one of the most effective and efficient technologies, have been widely used in many fields including wastewater treatment, seawater desalination, electronic, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, etc. due to their inherent advantages such as energy-saving and cost-effective features. Membrane fouling, however, especially the irreversible biofouling, has strong negative effects on the operational sustainability and the cost-efficiency of membrane process, thus hampering the application of membrane technology. In this review, the formation process and features of membrane biofouling are summerized, and then recent advances of antibacterial membranes development are reviewed. Three strategies including anti-adhesion strategy, active antibacterial strategy and programmed combination antibacterial strategy are highlighted for mitigating the membrane biofouling. In particular, the preparation method, antibacterial mechanism as well as practical problems of these three strategies are comprehensively discussed and analyzed. Finally, the future prospect and new insights are proposed to develop antibacterial membrane for future work.
Contents
1 Introduction
2 The formation process, characteristics and harmfulness of microbial fouling
3 The construction strategies of filtration membranes with antibacterial performance
3.1 The construction strategies of anti-adhesive filtration membranes with biofouling resistance
3.2 The construction strategies of active anti-bacterial filtration membranes with biofouling resistance
3.3 The construction strategies of programmed combination antibacterial filtration membranes with biofouling resistance
4 Conclusion and outlook