Novel high-throughput screening platform identifies enzymes to tackle biofouling on reverse osmosis membranes

Biofouling is a ubiquitous problem in many industrial systems including reverse osmosis (RO) desalination units where the biofilm impedes the water flow. It is essential to develop novel cleaning methods that are non -damaging and environmentally friendly. The most promising cleaning agents are enzymes, which can selec-tively cleave the components that stabilize the biofilm. However, biofilm-degrading enzymes are often difficult to identify due to the unknown matrix composition and lack of effective screening methods. To overcome this, a flexible screening platform was developed to evaluate enzyme treatment on fouling removal directly on RO membranes. The developed platform was used to identify enzymes that could degrade biofilms on fouled RO membranes. The membrane biofilms were destabilized by a range of enzyme groups, most effectively by pro -teases, lipases, DNase, cellulolytic enzymes, and pectin-degrading enzymes. The most effective enzyme formulations could clean the membranes more effectively than conventional chemical cleaning agents, removing 45 % of the biofilm compared with 0 %-19 % for the chemicals (p <= 0.001), indicating that enzymes have the potential to replace or complement chemical cleaning. The screening platform thus proved a potent tool for systematically studying biofilms and could be applied to combat biofilms in many other applications.

Automated summary

Biofouling is a widespread problem in industrial systems, such as reverse osmosis (RO) desalination units, where biofilms impede water flow. Enzymes have shown promise as non-damaging and environmentally friendly cleaning agents for biofilms, but identifying effective enzymes is challenging. To overcome this, a flexible screening platform was developed to directly evaluate enzyme treatment on fouled RO membranes. This platform identified enzymes, including proteases, lipases, DNase, cellulolytic enzymes, and pectin-degrading enzymes, that effectively degraded biofilms on RO membranes. The most effective enzyme formulations outperformed chemical cleaning agents, removing 45% of the biofilm compared to 0%-19% for chemicals (p <= 0.001), highlighting the potential of enzymes as replacements or complements to chemical cleaning. The screening platform proved to be a powerful tool for studying and combating biofilms in various applications.