Fouling mitigation in submerged VMD for the treatment of brackish groundwater concentrates with transverse vibration and crystallizer

Abstract The management of brackish groundwater concentrates remains as a problem from the desalination of brackish groundwater. This study accessed the feasibility of various fouling mitigation techniques during the treatment of brackish groundwater concentrates at a 4-fold concentration factor for the purpose further volume reduction of wastewater. The study has demonstrated the importance of proper selection for fouling control techniques to the corresponding foulants. While vigorous agitations such as stirring could trigger earlier membrane deterioration in the brackish groundwater concentrates with inorganic foulants, a thermal crystallizer unit was able to effectively prolong membrane performance and promote the harvesting of calcium carbonates. On the other hand, vigorous transverse vibration of membrane module at 500 rpm showed significant improvement of the membrane performance in terms of anti-fouling, anti-wetting and water production for the treatment of brackish groundwater concentrates with the presence of humic substances. With the aid of transverse vibration, 8.7-fold concentration factor was achieved in brackish groundwater concentrates with humic substance at 70 °C.