mBFR

mBFR (Membrane Biofilm Formation Rate) is Toray‘s innovative RO biofouling potential indicator to optimize RO system and performance.

Toray’s Innovative
Biofouling Potential
Indicator “mBFR”

Have you ever experienced fouling in your RO system despite low SDI values or struggled to identify the root cause of the issue?
Toray’s innovative patented mBFR enables early detection of biofouling potential, improving the efficiency of water treatment processes. It is effective for design assessments and post-operational troubleshooting, contributing to optimal plant performance.

What is biofouling?

Biofouling refers to a situation in which the biofilm formed on the RO membrane surface reach the intolerable level, causing problems in the operation of the RO process, such as increased pressure loss and reduced permeate flow.

Schematic flow of RO plant

Bacterium EPS (extracellular polymeric substances) ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate)

If biofouling occurs,
the RO membrane will look like this…

What mBFR can do?

To effectively prevent biofouling, it is essential to properly design and operate pretreatment processes and appropriately add chemicals.
This requires accurate methods and indicators to evaluate the biofouling potential of the water. However, suitable indicators have not been found until now.

For instance, the Silt Density Index (SDI) is widely used to assess the water quality of RO feed water. But have you ever encountered biofouling even though your RO feed water has an SDI of less than 3, a requirement commonly specified in bidding criteria?

Toray has developed a reliable indicator, “mBFR,” that can quantitatively predict and explain the biofouling potential of RO feed water. This innovative tool can significantly improve the operational efficiency of RO systems and reduce maintenance costs.

With mBFR, all these problems
can be resolved!!!

mBFR Measuring
Column Unit

The measurement can be made simply by attaching it to the plant piping and allowing the water to flow through for several days.

Outline of ATP measurement

The column is attached to the device, and water is passed through column while periodically measuring ATP growth.
The slope of the graph, with elapsed time on the horizontal axis and ATP on the vertical axis, represents the mBFR value.

mBFR = ATP (pg/cm²) / Time (days)