Flow cytometry for on-line microbial regrowth monitoring in a membrane filtration plant: pilot-scale case study for wastewater reuse

The use of advanced membrane processes, such as reverse osmosis (RO) are of great importance for process water and drinking water production. As the water quality is bound to certain imposed microbiological standards, the removal of unwanted bacteria is vital. Reverse osmosis filtration should in theory retain all, or most, bacteria. However, due to operational choices or malfunctions ( e.g. , leaking glue lines, oxidation of the membrane, loss of O-seals...) bacterial breakthrough can occur. Moreover, certain ultra-small species of bacteria are also able to pass the membrane. Currently, the microbiology and breakthrough are respectively monitored by looking at indicator organisms ( e.g. , Escherichia coli ) via plating methods and conductivity monitoring. In this case-study on-line flow cytometry was evaluated as a tool to monitor membrane integrity and microbiological quality of a pilot-scale RO membrane system placed at the Citrique Belgium, Citribel site (Tienen, Belgium). Over the course of 20 days, cell density and flow cytometric fingerprinting data were gathered. With the use of these phenotypic fingerprints and conductivity data, we could showcase that the cell densities found in the permeate were due to regrowth within the piping network, rather then bacterial breakthrough of the membrane. This demonstrates the added-value of flow cytometry for microbial and membrane integrity monitoring of large-scale membrane filtration plants. With the use of on-line flow cytometric fingerprinting, we confirmed that cell densities in a RO permeate were caused by bacterial regrowth in the piping, and that there was no problem with the integrity of the membrane and resulting water quality.