Article
Microbiology
Zahid Ur Rehman, Johannes S. Vrouwenvelder, Pascal E. Saikaly
Summary: The study characterized EPS produced by three bacterial strains isolated from a biofouled RO membrane, showing similarities in molecular weight and chemical structure important for biofilm formation. Genomic sequencing revealed that the bacteria belong to a novel species of Bacillus and carry enzymes involved in polysaccharide production. The findings provide insights into the physicochemical properties of EPS on RO membranes and suggest the potential role of bacteria in membrane fouling.
FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yin-Hu Wu, Zhuo Chen, Xu Li, Yun-Hong Wang, Bo Liu, Gen-Qiang Chen, Li-Wei Luo, Hao-Bin Wang, Xin Tong, Yuan Bai, Yu-Qing Xu, Nozomu Ikuno, Cai-Feng Li, Hong-Yu Zhang, Hong-Ying Hu
Summary: The study investigated the impact of ultraviolet (UV) disinfection on reverse osmosis (RO) membrane fouling, revealing that high UV dosage could lead to more severe biofouling due to increased extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secretion by residual bacteria after disinfection.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Gen-Qiang Chen, Yin-Hu Wu, Zhuo Chen, Li-Wei Luo, Yun-Hong Wang, Xing Tong, Yuan Bai, Hao-Bin Wang, Yu-Qing Xu, Zi-Wei Zhang, Nozomu Ikuno, Hong-Ying Hu
Summary: Disinfection treatment increased the abundance of typical bacterial genus with high EPS production ability, leading to significantly enhanced EPS volumetric productivity. EPS produced by DRB showed higher fouling potential on UF and RO membranes, with increased molecular weight and fluorescence intensity. The XDLVO theory revealed that EPS of DRB had significantly higher interaction energy with membranes than control group, indicating caution should be taken when using oxidizing disinfection as pre-treatment for membrane filtration in wastewater reclamation.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Chao Chen, Yu Yang, Nigel J. D. Graham, Zhenyu Li, Xingtao Yang, Zhining Wang, Nadia Farhat, Johannes S. Vrouwenvelder, Li -an Hou
Summary: The fouling of seawater reverse osmosis membranes is a persistent challenge in desalination. This study monitored the operational performance of a desalination plant for 7 years and the fouling development in different areas of membrane modules. The findings showed that operational performance declined over time and fouling mainly occurred at the feed side of the modules, with the highest microbial diversity. Keystone species like Chloroflexi and Planctomycetes played an important role in maintaining community structure and biofilm maturation. Polysaccharides, soluble microbial products, marine humic acid-like substances, and inorganic substances contributed to fouling. Overall, biofouling had a significant impact on membrane fouling after 7 years of operation.
Article
Environmental Sciences
You Ma, Pei-Kun Yuan, Yu Wu, Han Meng, Guo-Xiang Wang, Wen-Ming Xie, Li-Min Zhang, Jie Ma, Yan Xiao
Summary: This study investigated the role of main components of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in antibiotic adsorption through enzymatic treatment of activated sludge. The results showed that proteinase K and alpha-amylase can efficiently hydrolyze the proteins and polysaccharides of EPS, significantly enhancing the adsorption capacity of activated sludge for antibiotics. A multivariable linear regression model was successfully developed to quantify the impact of EPS components on antibiotic adsorption.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xinyue Lu, Wenjie Xu, Caixia Liu, Quanlin Zhao, Zhengfang Ye
Summary: EPS plays a significant role in nitrobenzene treatment, acting as both a reservoir for nitrobenzene and a protector of cells from toxicity. EPS helps maintain the stability of microbial communities by alleviating the negative impacts of nitrobenzene on inner cells.
ECOTOXICOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Tianran Ye, Ao Yang, Yulai Wang, Na Song, Ping Wang, Huacheng Xu
Summary: This study investigates the response of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in Microcystis aeruginosa to microplastics (MPs). The results show that MPs can inhibit the growth of Microcystis, but enhance the secretion of EPS. The organic composition in EPS varies differently in response to MP exposure, leading to changes in the dominant components and potential ecotoxicological risk. These findings contribute to our understanding of the interaction between phytoplankton and MPs in aquatic environments.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xuan Gao, Kun Yang, Daohui Lin
Summary: The presence of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) affects the interfacial interaction between titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nTiO(2)) and algae, promoting surface accumulation of nanoparticles on algal cells while limiting their internalization. The different endocytosis pathways for anatase nTiO(2) and rutile nTiO(2) entering algal cells may be attributed to their affinities to mediating receptors. EPS removal activates mediating pathways, facilitating more nanoparticle internalization.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Caihong Liu, Qiang He, Dan Song, Jennifer Jackson, Andreia F. Faria, Xihui Jiang, Xueyan Li, Jun Ma, Zhiqiang Sun
Summary: In this study, highly antimicrobial CuNPs were integrated into a hydrophilic polydopamine (PDA) coating and immobilized on a RO TFC membrane to form a stable and durable dual-functional layer. The modified membranes showed improved anti-adhesive properties and strong bacterial toxicity, leading to a substantial reduction in biofouling propensity in dynamic biofouling experiments.
Article
Environmental Sciences
You Ma, Tian -Yu Li, Han Meng, Guo-Xiang Wang, Li-Min Zhang, Guo-Zheng Jia, Jie Ma, Yan Xiao, Wei-Hua Li, Wen-Ming Xie
Summary: This study investigated the adsorption of the antibiotic trimethoprim (TMP) by extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in anaerobic activated sludge. The results showed that loosely-bound EPS had a positive effect on TMP adsorption, while tightly-bound EPS had a negative effect.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
(2023)
Review
Engineering, Environmental
Deepa Suresh, Pei Sean Goh, Ahmad Fauzi Ismail, Tuck Whye Wong
Summary: This review discusses conventional and advanced biofouling evaluation techniques used in reverse osmosis membranes, covering the fundamentals, mechanisms, impacts, and prevention strategies of reverse osmosis biofouling. While conventional techniques offer versatility and ease of use, advanced methods provide real-time and accurate monitoring, allowing for timely cleaning and improved performance.
JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Noya Ran, Revital Sharon-Gojman, Sara Larsson, Osnat Gillor, Meagan S. Mauter, Moshe Herzberg
Summary: Extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) can conform and orient on the surface according to the applied aquatic conditions. Changes in pH can alter the conformation and orientation of adsorbed EPS, leading to changes in membrane permeability. A hybrid sensor was used to test EPS layers and analyze their viscoelastic properties, hydrated thickness, and effect on ultrafiltration membrane pore diameter.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yi Yang, Xin Chen, Nan Zhang, Binbin Sun, Kunkun Wang, Yinqing Zhang, Lingyan Zhu
Summary: This study investigates the effects of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) released by Escherichia coli (E. coli) on the dissolution and sulfidation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and the associated growth inhibition to E. coli. The results show that EPS inhibited AgNPs dissolution, but facilitated the reductive transformation of Ag+ to Ag(0) under simulated sunlight. EPS also enhanced the colloidal stability of AgNPs and promoted sulfidation, thereby reducing the available dissolved Ag+ ions and relieving the antibacterial activity of AgNPs to E. coli.
Article
Engineering, Chemical
Hira Waheed, Ch Tahir Mehmood, Yongyu Yang, Weiyu Tan, Saisai Fu, Yeyuan Xiao
Summary: This study investigated the biofilm formation potential of anaerobic microbes on polymeric membranes and found that different membrane materials can affect the formation of biofilms, with fibrous surfaces being more favorable for biofilm formation. The growth stage was crucial for biofilm formation, with interactions between substrata and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) playing a key role in bacterial cell cohesion in mature biofilms.
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Qing-Long Fu, Chun-Jie Zhong, Ting Qing, Zi-Yan Du, Cheng-Cheng-Li, Jun-Jie Fei, Willie J. G. M. Peijnenburg
Summary: The study found that the biological impacts of metallic Ag-NPs and silver sulfide nanparticles (Ag2S-NPs) depend on their form and are highly influenced by microbial EPS. Compared to Ag-NPs, Ag2S-NPs have less impact on plants, while Bacillus subtilis EPS significantly alleviates the phytotoxicity of Ag-NPs.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Boreum Lee, Li Wang, Zhangxin Wang, Nathanial J. Cooper, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: Climate change directly affects energy consumption, water availability, and agricultural production. To achieve carbon neutrality, emerging technologies have been proposed, but their feasibility needs to be assessed through process modeling and techno-economic analysis.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Xiaoxiong Wang, Tong Wang, Tianyuan Zhang, Lea R. Winter, Jinghan Di, Qingshi Tu, Hongying Hu, Edgar Hertwich, Julie B. Zimmerman, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: Conventional phototrophic cultivation for micro-algae production lacks efficiency due to limited light transmission. In contrast, the use of cellulosic hydrolysate offers a cost-effective and sustainable method for heterotrophic cultivation, resulting in high algal growth rate. Techno-economic analysis and life cycle assessment show that cellulosic hydrolysate-mediated heterotrophic cultivation is competitive with phototrophic cultivation, with the added benefit of reducing environmental impacts and producing high-value co-products. This study demonstrates the economic and environmental feasibility of heterotrophic microalgae production based on renewable bio-feedstocks.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Chungseok Choi, Xiaoxiong Wang, Soonho Kwon, James L. Hart, Conor L. Rooney, Nia J. Harmon, Quynh P. Sam, Judy J. Cha, William A. Goddard, Menachem Elimelech, Hailiang Wang
Summary: Electrochemistry offers an efficient and sustainable solution for treating chlorinated organic compounds in polluted environmental waters. A catalyst composed of cobalt phthalocyanine molecules on multiwalled carbon nanotubes has been developed, which can selectively convert 1,2-dichloroethane into ethylene with high efficiency. The catalyst operates at a wide range of electrode potentials and reactant concentrations, achieving unprecedented near 100% Faradaic efficiency.
NATURE NANOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Ji Qin, Eric Ziemann, Edo Bar-Zeev, Sharon E. Bone, Yuanzhe Liang, Meagan S. Mauter, Moshe Herzberg, Roy Bernstein
Summary: Researchers have developed microporous membranes grafted with polyzwitterionic brushes that combine the characteristics of ultrafiltration membranes and microfiltration membranes, effectively removing bacteriophages from water. These membranes demonstrate high permeability and can achieve removal rates of up to 4.5 for T4 bacteriophages and 3.1 for NT1 bacteriophages, showing potential for advanced water treatment.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Narayana R. Aluru, Fikret Aydin, Martin Z. Bazant, Daniel Blankschtein, Alexandra H. Brozena, J. Pedro de Souza, Menachem Elimelech, Samuel Faucher, John T. Fourkas, Volodymyr B. Koman, Matthias Kuehne, Heather J. Kulik, Hao-Kun Li, Yuhao Li, Zhongwu Li, Arun Majumdar, Joel Martis, Rahul Prasanna Misra, Aleksandr Noy, Tuan Anh Pham, Haoran Qu, Archith Rayabharam, Mark A. Reed, Cody L. Ritt, Eric Schwegler, Zuzanna Siwy, Michael S. Strano, YuHuang Wang, Yun-Chiao Yao, Cheng Zhan, Ze Zhang
Summary: Confined fluids and electrolyte solutions in nanopores exhibit rich and surprising physics and chemistry that impact the mass transport and energy efficiency in many important natural systems and industrial applications. Exploiting these effects presents myriad opportunities in both basic and applied research that stand to impact a host of new technologies. In this review article, the progress on nanofluidics of single-digit nanopores (SDNs) is summarized, with a focus on the confinement effects. The recent development of precision model systems, transformative experimental tools, and multiscale theories in this field are reviewed.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Ryan M. DuChanois, Lauren Mazurowski, Hanqing Fan, Rafael Verduzco, Oded Nir, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: The separation of specific ions in water is essential for the recovery and reuse of metals and nutrients, but current membrane technologies lack the required precision selectivity for a circular resource economy. This study investigates whether the cation/cation selectivity of a composite cation-exchange membrane (CEM) is affected by the mass transfer resistance of the underlying CEM. The results show that eliminating resistance from the base layer of the CEM can significantly increase selectivity, highlighting the importance of low-resistance CEMs for precise separations with composite membranes.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Ragne Parnamae, Michele Tedesco, Min-Chen Wu, Chia-Hung Hou, Hubertus V. M. Hamelers, Sohum Patel, Menachem Elimelech, P. M. Biesheuvel, Slawomir Porada
Summary: In this study, a trackable model based on the Nernst-Planck theory was developed to predict the behavior of a commercial bipolar membrane. The model successfully predicted the concentration profiles of four ions (H+, OH-, Na+, and Cl-) inside the membrane and the resulting current-voltage curve, providing new insights into ion transport in bipolar membranes and identifying optimal operating conditions for environmental applications.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Li Wang, Tianchi Cao, Kevin E. Pataroque, Masashi Kaneda, P. Maarten Biesheuvel, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: It has been observed that the salt permeability of polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membranes increases as the feed salt concentration increases. However, studies using analytical techniques have shown that the salt partitioning coefficient decreases with increasing salt concentration, contradictory to the increase in salt permeability. In this study, the dependence of total ion and co-ion partitioning coefficients on salt concentration and solution pH was investigated. Results showed that the co-ion partitioning increased while total ion partitioning decreased with increasing salt concentration. The increase in co-ion partitioning was in line with the trend of salt permeability observed in RO experiments. The study further demonstrated that the dependence of salt and co-ion partitioning on salt concentration was more pronounced at a higher solution pH. The results suggest that co-ion partitioning, rather than salt partitioning, governs salt transport through RO membranes.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Sohum K. Patel, Weiyi Pan, Yong-Uk Shin, Jovan Kamcev, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: The study introduces a novel electrosorption-based boron removal technology using a bipolar membrane (BPM) between porous carbon electrodes, showing its potential to overcome the limitations of current methods. The mechanism of boron removal is confirmed to be electrosorption rather than adsorption. The effect of applied voltage on the process efficiency is evaluated, and the BPM-electrosorption system is compared with flow-through electrosorption, demonstrating advantages in boron sorption capacity and energy consumption. Overall, the BPM-electrosorption system shows promising boron removal capability.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ying-Jie Zhang, Jie-Jie Chen, Gui-Xiang Huang, Wen-Wei Li, Han-Qing Yu, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: Clarifying the reaction pathways at the solid-water interface and in bulk water solution is crucial for designing heterogeneous catalysts for selective oxidation of organic pollutants. In this study, the origin of organic oxidation reactions with metal oxide catalysts is unraveled, showing that radical-based advanced oxidation processes prevail in bulk water but not on solid catalyst surfaces. These findings provide a fundamental understanding of catalytic organic oxidation processes at the solid-water interface and can guide the design of heterogeneous nanocatalysts.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Xiaoxiong Wang, Xuanhao Wu, Wen Ma, Xuechen Zhou, Shuo Zhang, Dahong Huang, Lea R. Winter, Jae-Hong Kim, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: This study presents a flow-through electrofiltration method using an electrified membrane and single-atom catalysts, which achieves high removal efficiency of ultra-low concentration nitrate and improves reduction activity and selectivity, offering a new solution for efficient water purification.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yuzhang Zhu, Liangliang Gui, Ruoyu Wang, Yunfeng Wang, Wangxi Fang, Menachem Elimelech, Shihong Lin, Jian Jin
Summary: The authors demonstrate the ability to regulate the pore size of a polyamide membrane through applied voltage, enabling precise molecular separation. This study uncovers a previously overlooked mechanism of membrane-water-solute interactions.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Noya Ran, Gil Sorek, Noa Stein, Revital Sharon-Gojman, Moshe Herzberg, Osnat Gillor
Summary: Biofouling is the main cause of membrane deterioration during water purification processes and has been extensively studied. However, the link between biofouling community structure and function has not been fully understood. This study provides a novel insight by suggesting that bacterial functions control biofouling traits on reverse osmosis membranes, regardless of the composition of the biofilm.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yifan Gao, Shuai Liang, Biming Liu, Chengxu Jiang, Chenyang Xu, Xiaoyuan Zhang, Peng Liang, Menachem Elimelech, Xia Huang
Summary: Researchers have proposed a facile and highly controllable thermal tuning strategy that enables fine control of nanodefects in electrocatalysts. This strategy endows common carbon materials with record high efficiency in electrocatalytic degradation of pollutants.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Mohammad Heiranian, Hanqing Fan, Li Wang, Xinglin Lu, Menachem Elimelech
Summary: This article provides an overview of the importance of reverse osmosis (RO) desalination technology in addressing water scarcity. The design and development of RO membranes are discussed, along with an analysis of membrane separation and transport mechanisms. Two key water transport models, solution-diffusion and pore-flow, are examined and evaluated. Future research directions are also proposed.
CHEMICAL SOCIETY REVIEWS
(2023)