Although membrane bio-reactor (MBR) has been widely applied for wastewater treatment plants, the membrane fouling problems are still considered as an obstacle to overcome. Thus, many studies and commercial developments on mitigating membrane fouling in MBR have been carried out. Recently, high voltage impulse (HVI) has gained attention for a possible alternative technique for desalting, non-thermal sterilization, bromate-free disinfection and mitigation of membrane fouling. In this study, it was verified if the HVI could be used for mitigation of membrane fouling, particularly the internal pore fouling in MBR. The HVI was applied to the fouled membrane under different conditions of electric fields (E) and contact time (t) of HVI in order to investigate how much of internal pore fouling was reduced. The internal pore fouling resistance (Rf) after HVI induction was reduced as both E and t increased. For example, Rf decreased by 19% when the applied E was 5 kV/cm and t was 80 min. However, the Rf decreased by 71% as the E increased to 15 kV/cm under the same contact time. The correlation between E and t that needed for 20% of Rf reduction was modeled based on kinetics. The model equation, E1.54t = 1.2 × 103 was obtained by the membrane filtration data that were obtained with and without HVI induction. The equation states the products of En and t is always constant, which means that the required contact time can be reduced in accordance with the increase of E.

Mussels are stubborn organism attached to solid substrate by byssus threads and caused operational problems in utility of power generating stations. Sole and combined usage of ultrasonic (28 kHz- and 42 kHz- frequencies) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has studied for control of blue mussel larvae and adult stage in seawater condition. A theoretical wo rking model using disinfection (Chick and Watson type) approaches is presented based on helpful results of experiments. This study also demonstrate that the combined treatment (ultra-sonication with H2O2) is overall highly efficient than individual treatment would, but on the basis of exposure time, the ultra-sonication was the most efficient among them. Therefore the development of sole and combined technique might be effective practical mitigation strategy against mussel attachment for water handling facilities.