EAPSI: Early, Non-Invasive Detection of Microbial-Induced Degradation in Reverse Osmosis Membranes Using MRI

Simkins Jeffrey W, Bozeman MT

Investigators

Abstract

As fresh water becomes more scarce in the coming century, traditional water sources will need to be supplemented to meet demand. This will primarily be accomplished using reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, which extract clean water from saltwater or wastewater, due to their low energy consumption. However, RO membranes are easily degraded by microbial growth, and we have limited ability to detect bacterial-induced damage before the degradation becomes irreversible. The present project will pioneer a new, non-invasive method for identifying bacterial growth on RO membranes using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technology. This will allow for the first time the non-invasive detection of microbial activity on these membranes in the early stages of growth, when membrane damage can still be prevented. To conduct this research, the principal investigator, an expert in oxygen measurement using MRI, will collaborate with Dr. Michael Johns, an expert in applying MRI to RO membranes, at University of Western Australia. As fresh water availability decreases over the next century due to dwindling reserves, pollution, altered weather patterns resulting from climate change, and population growth, traditional water sources will need to be supplemented in order to meet demand. Over the last half century, reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, which isolate clean water from wastewater or saltwater, have become the gold standard of water purification due to relatively low energy consumption. A significant problem exhibited by RO membranes is susceptibility to biofouling, or degradation due to bacterial growth, which is often irreversible by the time the problem has been identified. In the last few decades, medical researchers have devised a new method for measuring oxygen concentration using Magnetic Resonance Imagine (MRI), and have used it to quantify oxygen in tissues and tumors. Because bacterial growth is associated with oxygen consumption, the researcher of the present project will repurpose this oxygen measurement technique for the identification of biofouling in RO membranes. Because MRI is non-invasive, this will permit for the first time the early detection of microbial growth without destructive sampling, allowing industrial membrane operators to treat their membranes before damage becomes irreversible. This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Australian Academy of Science.