{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T14:05:42Z","timestamp":1788271542361,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,4]],"date-time":"2026-01-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1767484800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100021171","name":"Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2024A1515011347"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2024A1515011347"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100021171","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["52470102"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52470102"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["52170071"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52170071"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Membranes"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Reverse osmosis (RO) is the key process for textile dyeing wastewater reuse applications. Membrane fouling reduces both permeability and rejection capability, negatively affecting the technological economy of RO process. Membrane cleaning is critical to recovery of the permeability of fouled RO membranes. Based on multi-batch filtration and cleaning experiments, this study systematically evaluated the RO membrane fouling potential of pre-treated textile dyeing wastewater by a membrane bioreactor and the recovery performance of fouled RO membranes after different cleaning methods. A significant decline (more than 15%) in RO membrane permeability occurred after RO membrane permeate production of 625 L\/m2 at a water recovery ratio of 60%. Protein-like substances and soluble microbial products were identified as the primary organic foulants via three-dimensional fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectrometry (3D-FEEM). The single forward flushing with either pure water, acid, alkaline, or sodium hypochlorite solutions with a low active chlorine concentration showed very limited recovery of fouled RO membrane permeability. The combined forward flushing with acid followed by alkaline solutions restored fouled membrane permeability by up to 87% of a new RO membrane. The addition of pure water backwashing at a transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 0.5 MPa after both acid and alkaline solutions combined forward flushing restored fouled membrane permeability by up to 97% of a new RO membrane but deteriorated the rejection capability of the RO membrane. The backwashing parameters were further optimized at a TMP of 0.125 MPa and crossflow velocity (CFV) of 0.5 m\/s, achieving fouled RO membrane permeability by up to 96% of a new RO membrane, and there were no negative effects on the rejection capability of the RO membrane. Alkaline forward flushing followed by pure water backwashing was the dominant contributor for fouled RO membrane permeability recovery. A preliminary economic analysis showed that the total chemical cost per RO production was 0.763 CNY\/m3 and could be further reduced via removing acid cleaning and replacing combined alkaline flushing and pure water backwashing with alkaline backwashing.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/membranes16010029","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,5]],"date-time":"2026-01-05T10:53:50Z","timestamp":1767610430000},"page":"29","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Reverse Osmosis Membrane Cleaning Optimization from Textile Dyeing Wastewater Reuse Applications"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Zhengwei","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Guangdong Shunkong Zihua Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rulu","family":"Ouyang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Guangzhou Water Supply Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510600, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-7137-8574","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guorui","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3122, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4336-8556","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Chunhai","family":"Wei","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiming","family":"Ji","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Shunkong Zihua Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qixuan","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Shunkong Zihua Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chunyang","family":"Tao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Guangdong Shunkong Zihua Technology Co., Ltd., Foshan 528000, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hongwei","family":"Rong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Municipal Engineering, School of Civil Engineering and Transportation, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory for Water Quality and Conservation of the Pearl River Delta, Ministry of Education, Guangzhou 510006, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116702","DOI":"10.1016\/j.desal.2023.116702","article-title":"How to extend the lifetime of RO membrane? 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