Since no pretreatment method is impeccable for the removal of foulants in reverse osmosis (RO) systems, the aim is to keep the production process efficiency as high as possible. In the vast majority of RO desalination plants, biofouling of membranes is considered as one of the most common operational problems. Even if micro-organisms are removed up to 99.99%, since they proliferate, there are still enough cells left which can grow on the surface of the membrane. Several studies have shown that in most cases the non-conventional pretreatment units were more efficient than the conventional systems for producing better water quality and minimizing the overall treatment cost. In this study, a full-scale seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant which was subject to severe biofouling was investigated. A pilot-scale system including silicon carbide ultrafiltration (SiC-UF) membranes was established in order to filter biological matter. According to the results of this study, SiC-UF membranes appeared to be a reliable pretreatment method for removing almost 100% of all micro-organisms.
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