Membrane desalination has become one of the most important desalination technologies used in the world. It provides high water quality for numerous applications and it demonstrates excellent desalination efficiency. One of the most troubling drawbacks of membrane desalination is membrane fouling. It decreases the performance of the membranes and increases the energy requirement. Two of the most important causes of fouling are microbes and organic matter. Hence, to maintain an optimized desalination performance, routine inspection of microbial and organic contents of water is crucial for desalination plants. In this study, water samples were obtained from different treatment points in an ultrafiltration (UF)/nanofiltration (NF) seawater desalination pilot plant. This was performed to better understand how the water quality changes along the desalination scheme. The effect of fouling control techniques, including Chemically Enhanced Backwash (CEB), Cleaning in Place (CIP), and the addition of a biocide (DBNPA) was studied. Different analytical tools were applied, including Bactiquant, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Assimilable Organic Carbon (AOC), and Liquid Chromatography for Organic Carbon Detection (LC-OCD). Out results showed that UF did not decrease TOC but it was sufficient in removing up to 99.7% of bacteria. Nanofiltration, removed up to 95% of TOC. However, NF permeate had a high increase in AOC as compared to the raw seawater sample. The LC-OCD results suggested that this might be due to the increased low molecular weight neutrals which were the most common organic species in the NF permeate. The fouling control techniques showed various effects on the desalination efficiency. Daily CEB did not cause a reduction in TOC or bacteria but decreased AOC in the UF filtrate. The biocide addition resulted in an adequate membranes protection from fouling and it did not affect the investigated water parameters. When the dosing of biocide was stopped, the water quality parameters did not change, but the NF pressure drop increased rapidly, indicating fouling of this membrane. CIP did not show an impact on the organic and microbial contents of water, but it was efficient in restoring the operations back to acceptable pressure levels. These results indicated that the applied fouling protection techniques were beneficial in fouling control.

No description available.

Marine biofouling is the accumulation of organisms onto surfaces immersed in sea water. Fouling of ships causes an increase in hydrodynamic drag which leads to performance issues such as increased fuel consumption and a reduced top operating speed. Fouling-release (FR) coatings are one way that paints have been used in combating biofouling by allowing for the easy removal of settled organisms. Traditional FR coatings are silicone elastomers which are soft, easily damaged, and require a tie coat for adhesion to marine primers. Siloxanepolyurethane FR coatings have shown promise as FR coatings, providing enhanced durability and toughness, better adhesion to marine primers, and comparable FR performance to commercial coatings. Preliminary studies were conducted to explore the use of PDMS macromers in the preparation of siloxane-polyurethane FR coatings. Attachment and removal of fouling organisms on the siloxane-polyurethane coatings based on PDMS macromers was comparable to commercial FR coatings. Extended water aging was also carried out to determine effects of extended water immersion on the fouling-release performance of the coatings. At up to four weeks of aging, the FR performance of the coatings was not affected. Static immersion marine field testing was performed to determine the fouling-release performance of siloxane-polyurethane coatings prepared with PDMS macromers. The performance was found to be comparable to commercial FR coatings for up to one year, including water jet removal of slimes, barnacle push-off removal, and soft sponging. The coatings showed good fouling-release performance until extremely heavy fouling was allowed to settle. Underwater hull cleaning was conducted for one siloxane-polyurethane composition identified as a top performer from static field testing. The coating was easily cleaned of fouling with rotating brushes for six months. The cleaning capability of the coating was reduced when large barnacles and other extremely heavy fouling was present. A commercial FR coating became heavily damaged with brush cleaning while the siloxane-polyurethane coating remained mostly undamaged. With more frequent cleaning, it is suspected that siloxanepolyurethane coatings would show cleaning capability for longer periods of time. Pigmentation of siloxane-polyurethane coatings based on difunctional PDMS and PDMS macromers was explored to investigate the effect on FR performance. Pigmentation with titanium dioxide caused a slight decrease in FR performance in some cases, but this was easily overcome by the addition of slightly more PDMS in the coating binder, thus illustrating the feasibility of siloxane-polyurethane coatings as effective, pigmented FR coatings. Finally, the exploration of unique PDMS polymer architectures has been explored for the development of additional, novel, fouling-release coatings. The incorporation of end-functional PDMS homopolymer molecular brushes and branched PDMS macromers into siloxane-polyurethane fouling-release coatings shows promise for the development of unique coatings where improved FR performance may be obtained. / Office of Naval Research (U.S.)

This thesis is devoted purification of a gas stream with solid and liquid particles. The problem described in the thesis is connected with a real industrial case – problem of operated waste gas incineration plant. Waste gas going to thermal incineration to flame of natural gas combustion contains solid and liquid particles. Presence of particles causes fouling of waste gas preheater. The main objective of thesis is analysis of situation and operating and space limitations and design of a suitable type of particle collector to reliable elimination of particles from waste gas before entering the gas preheater and thus to mitigation of fouling of preheater heat transfer area.

Zvýšení efektivity výměny tepla vede k poklesu spotřeby energie, což se následně projeví sníženými provozními náklady, poklesem produkce emisí a potažmo také snížením dopadu na životní prostředí. Běžné způsoby zefektivňování přenosu tepla jako např. přidání žeber či vestaveb do trubek ovšem nemusí být vždy vhodné nebo proveditelné -- zvláště při rekuperaci tepla z proudů s vysokou zanášivostí. Jelikož intenzita přestupu tepla závisí i na charakteru proudění, distribuci toku a zanášení, které lze všechny výrazně ovlivnit tvarem jednotlivých součástí distribučního systému, bylo sestaveno několik zjednodušených modelů pro rychlou a dostatečně přesnou predikci distribuce a také aplikace pro tvarovou optimalizaci distribučních systémů využívající právě tyto modely. Přesnost jednoho z modelů byla dále zvýšena pomocí dat získaných analýzou 282 distribučních systémů v softwaru ANSYS FLUENT. Vytvořené aplikace pak lze využít během návrhu zařízení na výměnu tepla ke zvýšení jejich výkonu a spolehlivosti.

abstract: This dissertation investigates the mechanisms that lead to fouling, as well as how an understanding of how these mechanisms can be leveraged to mitigate fouling. To limit fouling on feed spacers, various coatings were applied. The results showed silver-coated biocidal spacers outperformed other spacers by all measures. The control polypropylene spacers performed in-line with, or better than, the other coatings. Polypropylene’s relative anti-adhesiveness is due to its surface free energy (SFE; 30.0 +/- 2.8 mN/m), which, according to previously generated models, is near the ideal SFE for resisting adhesion of bacteria and organics (~25 mN/m). Previous research has indicated that electrochemical surfaces can be used to remove biofilms. To better elucidate the conditions and kinetics of biofilm removal, optical coherence tomography microscopy was used to visualize the biofouling and subsequent cleaning of the surface. The 50.0 mA cm-2 and 87.5 mA cm-2 current densities proved most effective in removing the biofilm. The 50.0 mA cm-2 condition offers the best balance between performance and energy use for anodic operation. To test the potential to incorporate electrochemical coatings into infrastructure, membranes were coated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), rendering the membranes electrochemically active. These membranes were biofouled and subsequently cleaned via electrochemical reactions. P. aeruginosa was given 72h to develop a biofilm on the CNT-coated membranes in a synthetic medium simulating desalination brines. Cathodic reactions, which generate H2 gas, produce vigorous bubbling at a current density of 12.5 mA cm-2 and higher, leading to a rapid and complete displacement of the biofilm from the CNT-functionalized membrane surface. In comparison, anodic reactions were unable to disperse the biofilms from the surface at similar current densities. The scaling behavior of a nanophotonics-enabled solar membrane distillation (NESMD) system was investigated. The results showed the NESMD system to be resistant to scaling. The system operated without any decline in flux up to concentrations 6x higher than the initial salt concentration (8,439 mg/L), whereas in traditional membrane distillation (MD), flux essentially stopped at a salt concentration factor of 2x. Microscope and analytical analyses showed more fouling on the membranes from the MD system. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering 2019

The waste treatment, particularly the thermal treatment of waste has changed fundamentally in the last 20 years, i.e. from facilities solely dedicated to the thermal treatment of waste to facilities, which in addition to that ensure the safe plant operation and fulfill very ambitious criteria regarding emission reduction, resource recovery and energy efficiency as well. Therefore this contributes to the economic use of raw materials and due to the energy recovered from waste also to the energy provision. The development described had the consequence that waste and solid recovered fuels (SRF) has to be evaluated based on fuel criteria as well. Fossil fuels – coal, crude oil, natural gas etc. have been extensively investigated due to their application in plants for energy conversion and also due to their use in the primary industry. Thereby depending on the respective processes, criteria on fuel technical properties can be derived. The methods for engineering analysis of regular fuels (fossil fuels) can be transferred only partially to SRF. For this reason methods are being developed or adapted to current analytical methods for the characterization of SRF. In this paper the possibilities of the energetic utilization of SRF and the characterization of SRF before and during the energetic utilization will be discussed.

<p>In dairy processing, dairy ingredients need to be thermally treated to ensure product quality and safety for an extended shelf life. During thermal processes, milk protein denatures and interacts with other dairy ingredients to form a layer of deposit on heated surfaces, known as fouling which can deteriorate process efficiency and product safety. Milk is a complex mixture of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. The heat-sensitive B-lactoglobulin (B-lg) is known to be a key component in fouling formation (constituting 50% of type A fouling deposits) during milk pasteurization, as B-lg unfolds when heated and exposes the reactive sulfhydryl groups that can interact with other proteins and ingredients to form deposits. Although casein (80% of milk proteins) is known to interact with denatured B-lg, no fouling studies have been performed with particular focus on the effect of casein on whey protein fouling.</p><p>Carbohydrates are an ingredient widely added in various dairy products as sweetener, stabilizer, texturizer, and fat replacer. Simple sugars have a protective effect on whey protein denaturation, but their effect on dairy fouling is not known. Polysaccharides can interact with milk proteins through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, as well as hydrogen bonding. The addition of polysaccharide (carrageenan) has been reported to cause opposite effects on protein deposition, however, no conclusive mechanism has been proposed to elucidate how protein-polysaccharide interaction at pasteurization temperatures affects the fouling behavior of dairy products.</p><p>In this dissertation, different model dairy solutions and real dairy products were used to study the effect of composition, including protein distribution and additions of simple sugars and polysaccharides, on dairy fouling. Fouling deposits were formed and analyzed using a bench-top spinning disc apparatus operating under well-controlled temperatures and shear stresses characterized by computational fluid dynamics simulations. By studying the fouling behavior of camel milk and comparing with bovine milk, milk without B-lg was found to still foul and form deposits containing casein, α-lactalbumin, serum albumin with a reduced thermal resistance due to a more porous structure. Results also showed that the addition of 10 wt% sugar reduced whey protein fouling by more than 30% and affected the structure and adhesion strength of deposits. Furthermore, the presence of carrageenan in dairy solutions can promote the denaturation of B-lg when heated and form a more compact deposit, resulting in more severe fouling. Overall, this dissertation provides a fundamental understanding of the fouling characteristics of complex dairy products. The knowledge gained is expected to help the dairy industry select suitable ingredients to mitigate or prevent the fouling problem.</p>

<p> Fouling is one of the main problems in the food processing industry. The formation of fouling generates complications that could significantly impact the cost of production due to a reduction in heat transfer capacity or sanitation problems. Fouling formation inside enclosed systems can also lead to the growth of biofilms, causing food safety hazards. The fouling layers are firmly attached to the food contact surface of the equipment in ultra-high temperature (UHT) systems where a food product gets sterilized. Clean in place (CIP) is the most common process for cleaning and removal of fouling as it reduces cleaning time, chemicals, and water consumption compared to a regular cleaning out of place process. While cleaning and solids removal, microbubbles (MB) have shown improvement by enhancing the interaction of the components in the cleaning process with the source of contamination. Therefore, a novel pilot-scale microbubble-based CIP (MBCIP) technology was used for cleaning of fouled surfaces and compared to the traditional CIP process in terms of efficiency and reduction in water usage. The fouling layers attached to the food contact surface of the equipment in UHT was the main area examined. The research evaluated the fouling created at 110ºC in sections of stainless-steel pipes heated in a convection oven and at 121 ºC during regular processing in a UHT with coil heat exchangers system. Reconstituted Non-fat Dry Milk Powder (NFDM) was used as the primary source of protein to evaluate the cleaning efficiency. CIP factors were combined with temperatures at 21.11 ºC, 43.33 ºC, and 76.66 ºC, together with water, alkali, and acid, respectively. The optimal conditions for MBCIP were established and applied to a pilot-scale UHT system representative of a commercial-scale UHT system. The sequence of the CIP was water, alkali, water, acid, and water. The results showed that the acid solution at 76.66 ºC with microbubbles had a significantly higher protein removal compared to the rest of the evaluated conditions, removing 72% of the initial protein content compared to alkali and water which were 10 and <2.55%, respectively during 60 minute of CIP. During the full CIP with the combination of water, alkali, and acid, the effect of alkali was significantly higher than in the rest of the steps performed individually. With the addition of MB overall, CIP removed a considerable amount of protein (>21.5%) in a UHT system compared to the traditional CIP method within the 60 minutes period. CIP chemicals were the main factor contributing to the protein removal, and the gas content was the second most crucial factor in determining the removal. The addition of MB will have a meaningful impact when interacting with cleaning chemicals for industrial CIP. MB also occupies a very small amount of space inside the pipelines representing <0.05% of the volume fraction of the fluid inside the pipes, nevertheless, it can potentially reduce water consumption and provides a sustainable cleaning method for the food industry </p>

Aquaculture facilities involve mooring a large amount of artificial structures in offshore areas, which are colonised by a wide group of marine organisms, forming characteristic fouling communities. Many studies have focused on determining what sessile organisms are able to settle on nets, ropes and buoys, owing to the specific problems they cause and their economic cost to the aquaculture industry. Although sessile fouling communities are well-studied from the point of view of controlling this community on aquaculture facilities, little is known about the epifaunal mobile species inhabiting these artificial structures. This thesis addresses the study of crustacean amphipods, which have been scarcely studied regarding their species composition and relation to the habitats created by the sessile species and despite being detected in high abundances. After the general introduction, which sets the study framework, Chapter 1 is a preliminary study on the composition of fouling assemblages on aquaculture facilities in the Mediterranean Sea, comparing them with others such as those in harbours or offshore structures. Therein, it is shown that fouling communities are made up of mainly bivalves, algae, hydroids and bryozoans and amphipods usually represent more than 80 % of motile fauna associated with these organisms. Moreover, amphipod assemblages are characterised by seven frequent and dominant species: Elasmopus rapax, Jassa marmorata, Jassa slatteryi, Ericthonius punctatus, Stenothoe tergestina, Caprella equilibra and Caprella dilatata. A quantitative study of amphipod densities is carried out in Chapter 2, where mean amphipod densities observed in fish farm fouling amounted to 176,000 ind.m-2 and reached maxima up to 1,000,000 ind.m-2. There, the role of the macro- and microhabitat in supporting such amphipod communities is explored. The effect of the modification of marine currents on pelagic communities due to the introduction of coastal infrastructures is analysed in Chapter 3. Therein, it was detected a retention effect on planktonic amphipods near such facilities, noticeable in the increased abundance of hyperiids and migrating amphipods from different benthic and floating habitats. The influence of fouling amphipods on other habitats is analysed in Chapters 4 and 5, it is shown that fish-farm fouling acts as a source population of amphipods dispersing towards both defaunated sediments in soft-bottoms and surrounding floating habitats. Finally, in the last chapter, based on the possibility of using wild fauna already growing in fish farms, the applicability of amphipods as an accessory culture is tested in an offshore integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system with finfish as main fed species. Throughout this thesis it has been shown that fish-farming activities affect the amphipod assemblage in several ways such as the establishment of high population densities or the intimate connectivity between different subpopulations. As a result, a new potential commercial application arises from the possibility of using them as biofilters of aquaculture wastes, within an off-coast integrated multitrophic aquaculture system, promoting a more sustainable development of aquaculture in the marine environment. / Las estructuras artificiales que conforman las instalaciones de acuicultura en mar abierto suelen ser colonizadas por multitud de organismos marinos, que forman comunidades de fouling características en estas estructuras. Muchos estudios se han centrado en la descripción de los organismos sésiles que se desarrollan sobre cabos, redes y boyas de las instalaciones de acuicultura, debido a los problemas que generan para el cultivo y los costes adicionales que significan para la industria derivados de su necesaria eliminación. Sin embargo, aunque las comunidades de fouling sésiles han sido bien estudiadas desde el punto de vista de su control en las instalaciones de acuicultura, poco se sabe sobre la epifauna que habita estas estructuras artificiales. Esta tesis se centra en el estudio de los crustáceos anfípodos, los cuales aún no han sido estudiados en cuanto a la composición de especies y a su relación con los hábitats creados por los organismos sésiles, a pesar de haber sido detectados en grandes abundancias en las instalaciones de acuicultura. Después de una introducción general, que establece el marco de estudio, el capítulo uno es un estudio preliminar sobre las comunidades de fouling de las instalaciones de acuicultura en el Mediterráneo, comparándolas con las desarrolladas en otras estructuras artificiales como puertos o plataformas petrolíferas. En este capítulo, se demuestra que las comunidades de fouling están compuestas principalmente por bivalvos, algas, hidrozoos y briozoos y que más de un 80% de la fauna asociada a estos organismos son anfípodos. Además el poblamiento se caracteriza por la presencia de siete especies de anfípodos que son frecuentes y abundantes: Elasmopus rapax, Jassa marmorata, Jassa slatteryi, Ericthonius punctatus, Stenothoe tergestina, Caprella equilibra y Caprella dilatata. Un estudio cuantitativo de las densidades de estos anfípodos se lleva a cabo en el capítulo 2, donde se encuentra que la densidad media es de 176.000 ind.m-2, con máximos de más de 1.000.000 ind.m-2. Allí se explora también el papel de los macro y microhábitats en mantener dichas poblaciones de anfípodos. El efecto de la modificación de corrientes sobre las comunidades plantónicas debida a la instalación de las piscifactorías se analiza en el capítulo 3. En él, se detectó una retención de los anfípodos planctónicos cerca de las instalaciones, evidenciada por el incremento en las abundancias de hipéridos y de anfípodos migradores desde diferentes hábitats bentónicos flotantes. La influencia de las grandes densidades de anfípodos del fouling sobre otros hábitats se estudia en los capítulos 4 y 5, donde se observó que el fouling actúa como fuente de anfípodos migradores, exportando individuos que colonizan tanto sedimentos defaunados en el fondo marino como otros hábitats flotantes cercanos. Finalmente, en el último capítulo se analiza la posibilidad de aprovechar la producción natural y la conectividad observadas a través del cultivo de anfípodos como parte de un sistema de acuicultura multitrófica integrada (AMTI) en mar abierto con peces como especie principal. A lo largo de esta tesis, se demuestra que la acuicultura influencia las poblaciones de anfípodos marinos, tanto en el establecimiento de grandes densidades de población como en la conectividad entre las diferentes subpoblaciones. Como resultado, surge una nueva aplicación comercial de la posibilidad de usar los anfípodos del fouling como biofiltros, reciclando los residuos de la acuicultura dentro de un sistema de acuicultura multitrófica, garantizando así un desarrollo más sostenible de la acuicultura en el medio marino.