Further development and application of the TEP10kDa method to assess and monitor surface water treatment plants

Water usage on a global scale has been increasing and it has become hard to meet the enormous amount of water required in all water-used-sectors. As a result, membrane-based water treatment systems have become a promising alternative because of their safe and steady produced water quality and quantity. However, the major barrier to applying membrane-based technologies is "membrane fouling". Algal blooms are natural seasonal occurrence phenomena that can be unavoidable. Most membrane-based water treatment plants around the world have experienced membrane fouling because of algal bloom impacted water. During algal blooms, microalgae such as phytoplankton and bacterioplankton excrete exudates and detritus and they are major sources of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in natural water (Passow, 2002a). TEPs are probably a starter/supporter of the formation of biofilm in the aquatic ecosystem and membrane filtrations process because of their relative stickiness (Villacorte, 2014a). Biofilm growth could reduce membrane performance, and in serious conditions, membranes must be replaced (Berman and Holenberg, 2005). In recent years, several TEP quantification methods have been developed. However, the main bottleneck of TEP study is the lack of a reliable quantifying method. Villacorte (2014a) developed a TEP quantifying method called TEP10kDa method which can measure both particulate TEP and colloidal TEP (