Disclosed are methods of preparing antifouling coatings on reverse osmosis membranes with initiated vapor deposition or oxidative vapor deposition. The coatings enhance the stability and lifetime of membranes without sacrificing performance characteristics, such as permeability or salt retention.

A method for inhibiting silica scale formation in an aqueous system by adding a hydrophobically-modified alkylene oxide urethane copolymer anti-scalant to the water used in the aqueous system.

A microorganism recovering method high in recovering efficiency is provided. A microorganism recovering method of recovering microorganisms from a liquid sample includes filtering out microorganisms from the liquid sample through a filtration apparatus, the filtration apparatus including a first end and a second end, the filtration apparatus being configured to receive the liquid sample at the first end and being configured to discharge from the second end filtrate generated through the filtering out microorganisms and recovering the microorganisms filtered out by the filtration apparatus together with a culture medium by feeding the culture medium from the second end to the first end.

Disclosed are devices, methods and/or systems for use in protecting items and/or structures that are exposed to, submerged and/or partially submerged in aquatic environments from contamination and/or fouling due to the incursion and/or colonization by specific types and/or kinds of biologic organisms and/or plants, including the protection from micro- and/or macro-fouling for extended periods of time of exposure to aquatic environments.

The present invention relates to a composition for treatment of wastewaters in a membrane bioreactor comprising a mixture of inorganic coagulants and organic water soluble polymer(s), wherein the inorganic coagulants are selected from iron and/or aluminium containing compounds and the organic water soluble polymers are selected from the group consisting of anionic, cationic, nonionic polymers, polysaccharides and polyphenolic compounds and any combination thereof. The present invention further relates to a method for treating of wastewaters in a membrane bioreactor, and uses thereof.

The invention provides methods and compositions for the protection of a membrane from both biofouling and from damage caused by a biocide. The invention utilizes PAA as both a biocide and as a reducing agent for other oxidizing biocides. This is especially beneficial because without the invention one would be forced to choose between preventing membrane biofouling or preventing membrane damage from oxidizing biocides.

The present invention relates to a centrifugal force-based nanoparticle separation apparatus and method. Specifically, the present invention is based on having a low centrifugal force and a small size, and may thus separate nanovesicles unrelated to antibody specificity in a short time and without using an ultracentrifuge. Further, the present invention requires no additional professional personnel and enables accurate fluid measurement by integrating and automating all processes after sample injection, and may thus reduce the loss of nanovesicles.

Provided is a method for operating an RO-membrane treatment system that includes an energy recovery device that recovers energy from the concentrate of an RO-membrane device and the RO-membrane treatment system that reduce the occurrence of biofouling in not only the RO-membrane device but also the energy recovery device in order to increase the energy efficiency of the entire system and operate the RO-membrane treatment system with consistency. The method includes adding at least one slime-control agent selected from a combined-chlorine slime-control agent and a stabilized-bromine slime-control agent to water that is to be treated with the reverse-osmosis-membrane device such that a residual halogen concentration in the concentrate that is to be introduced into the energy recovery device is 0.1 to 10000 mg/L as total chlorine.

The object of the present invention relates to the use of an branched alkoxylated non-ionic surfactant as an additive to an aqueous membrane cleaning composition, wherein the surfactant has an HLB.sub.d value of 9 to 12.5 and an average degree of branching B.sub.s1.5 and wherein the surfactant has the following formula: ##STR00001##
wherein R is a C8-C18 linear or branched hydrocarbon chain, X is O or N, R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 independently of one another are hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, or a mixture of these, n has a value of from 1 to 8, m has a value of from 1 to 8, p has a value of from 0 to 8.

This disclosure relates to a combination for inhibiting or removing biofouling and a method for inhibiting biofouling growth or removing biofouling. This disclosure also relates to a combination including halogen-type oxidizers, sulfur-containing compounds, and ammonium salts and/or urea. Also disclosed are methods for inhibiting the biofouling growth in a reverse osmosis membrane separation device or nanofiltration membrane separation device or removing the biofouling in a reverse osmosis membrane separation device or nanofiltration membrane separation device.