Membrane performance in direct contact membrane distillation with a focus on the fouling characteristics at different temperature regions

This study evaluated the fouling development of different temperature regions in direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) were implemented to find more crystal deposition on high temperature regions and identify the main composition of the crystal deposit was CaCO3. Confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) demonstrated that the middle temperature region had more biovolume and it was least in high temperature due to the limit of the growth of microorganisms. We apply the next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA to characterise the composition and functional potential of the microbial community on the membrane at different stages.