Abstract
Full-scale application of membrane distillation (MD) requires effective pretreatment strategies to control biofilms, a persistent challenge of desalination systems. This study explores the impact of “shock” chlorination on the direct contact MD (DCMD) using Red Sea water under conditions similar to reverse osmosis plants. The DCMD performance at different feedwater temperatures was evaluated, and biofilm architecture and composition were linked to key performance indicators. Our results demonstrated that “shock” chlorination delayed microbial growth and reduced biofilm coverage and thickness. Another positive aspect is reduced scaling propensity by limiting salt entrapment and deposition of Ca and Mg salts on the membrane surface. As a result, improved permeate fluxes were achieved at 45 °C and 55 °C without compromising permeate quality. However, at 65 °C, induced pore wetting occurred due to combined thermal and oxidation effects that impaired membrane’s selectivity indicating that while “shock” chlorination controls biofilms at lower and moderate temperatures, its effectiveness diminishes with temperature increase. Our study highlights that proactive strategies, such as controlled “shock” chlorination, are essential for efficient MD performance. A practical approach is to implement this strategy for biofilm management under carefully optimized operating conditions to minimize fouling risks and support resilient seawater MD systems.
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The authors declare that all data generated in this study are provided within the manuscript and its Supplementary Information file.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Mr. Najeh Kharbatia for his help in Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES) and Ionic Chromatography (IC) analysis, and Mr. Ajit Kale for his help with Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) analysis of Red Sea water. This study was funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, through grant # BAS/1/1086-01-01.
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D.D. and A.A. made equal contributions to this study. D.D.: conceptualization, methodology development, MD experiments, biofilm/scaling, FCM and OCT analyses, water quality analysis by IC, manuscript writing, reviewing and editing, preparing Figs. 1–4 and S3–S8, and Table S1. A.A.: conceptualization, methodology development, MD experiments, biofilm/scaling, FCM and OCT analyses, water quality analysis by ICP-OES and DOC, manuscript writing, reviewing and editing, preparing Figs. 5–8, S1 and S2. G.G.G.: CLSM analysis, manuscript reviewing. N.A.A.: 3D-FEEM analysis, manuscript reviewing. V.E.M.: SEM imaging and analysis, manuscript reviewing. S.O.: CLSM imaging and analysis, manuscript reviewing. J.S.V.: methodology development, review, and editing; N.G.: conceptualization, methodology development, securing funds, supervision, manuscript reviewing and editing. All authors approved the manuscript.
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Dylewski, D., Alpatova, A., Gonzalez-Gil, G. et al. Balancing biofouling control in membrane distillation by “shock” chlorination. npj Clean Water (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-026-00578-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41545-026-00578-3
