Production deau destinée à la consommation humaine par Osmose inverse Basse Pression: étude du vieillissement des membranes et de la rétention en polluants émergents (Thèse 2021 - 2024)
Activités
Production eau potable,
Osmose inverse,
Virus, bactéries, ...
Publications scientifiques au M2P2
2025
Hugo Taligrot, Vivian Dam Quang, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Damien Chaudanson, et al.. Investigating the impact of low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane aging and heterogeneity on performance: A study of virus and microplastic retention. Separation and Purification Technology, 2025, 376, ⟨10.1016/j.seppur.2025.133924⟩. ⟨hal-05468499⟩ Plus de détails...
The increasing demand for freshwater, alongside increasing microplastics and persistent microbiological contaminants, is degrading water quality and highlighting the need for advanced treatment processes with better retention performance. Low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) presents a promising solution for producing drinking water from freshwater, offering an optimal balance between water quality and production costs. However, uncertainties remain regarding the long-term evolution of these performance metrics, which are primarily based on data from reverse osmosis membranes used in seawater desalination. This study investigates the impact of membrane aging on LPRO performance and the role of membrane heterogeneity within a spiral-wound module. New and long-term aged membranes were compared in terms of permeability, salt retention, and virus retention, with additional analysis of microplastic retention. Natural membrane aging led to increased permeability and decreased salt retention, without affecting virus and microplastic retention, for which retention remained total across the tested coupons. Performance heterogeneity was observed depending on the position of the coupons within the module, with a more significant degradation at the beginning of the module and winding, likely due to mechanical effects associated with higher pressure and deformation. In contrast, coupons located at the end of the module and winding showed minimal performance impact. No impact was observed on virus and microplastic retention, which remained complete, confirming that viruses do not pass through an intact membrane but rather through membrane defects and seals. Autopsy of the LPRO modules revealed membrane defects (glue patches, minor and major folds) that affected membrane performance. In particular, the presence of apparent major folds led to significant performance degradation, with lower permeability and salt retention. The folds also caused the passage of viruses into the permeate, while microplastic retention remained unaffected. The virus passing through the permeate of an LPRO pilot would therefore be due to defects in the membrane and Orings of the modules.
Hugo Taligrot, Vivian Dam Quang, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Damien Chaudanson, et al.. Investigating the impact of low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane aging and heterogeneity on performance: A study of virus and microplastic retention. Separation and Purification Technology, 2025, 376, ⟨10.1016/j.seppur.2025.133924⟩. ⟨hal-05468499⟩
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Jacques Geslin, Chaimaa Belkebir, et al.. Study of Bacterial Growth in Drinking Water Distribution Pipes as a Function of the Water Quality. Water, 2025, 17, ⟨10.3390/w17060835⟩. ⟨hal-05468497⟩ Plus de détails...
This study examines the impact of water produced by membrane processes on bacterial dynamics within drinking water distribution systems. Employing a closedloop pilot plant designed to replicate real-world conditions, the research focused on two primary objectives. First, it assessed the effects of different water compositions, which vary in their nutrient concentrations, including tap water, softened water, ultrafiltered water, and low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) water, on bacterial development in pipes over successive 30-day phases. The findings indicated that water produced by LPRO, characterized by low nutrient levels, reduced microbial concentrations and altered the composition of bacterial communities, leading to the lowest overall bacterial counts during stationary phases. Second, the study investigated the behavior of established biofilms in response to changes in water type (tap water/LPRO water), revealing that after a certain duration, aging biofilms maintained their structural integrity and diversity despite variations in water quality. The presence of a robust biofilm could buffer the microbial community against drastic shifts associated with different water types, suggesting that pipe history plays a critical role in microbial dynamics within distribution systems. These results highlight the complex interplay between water quality and biofilm characteristics in the drinking water distribution systems.
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Jacques Geslin, Chaimaa Belkebir, et al.. Study of Bacterial Growth in Drinking Water Distribution Pipes as a Function of the Water Quality. Water, 2025, 17, ⟨10.3390/w17060835⟩. ⟨hal-05468497⟩
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Jacques Geslin, Laurent Moulin, et al.. Effect of volumetric concentration factor on virus removal for low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane in drinking water production: a study on different scales. Water Research, 2024, 267, pp.122536. ⟨10.1016/j.watres.2024.122536⟩. ⟨hal-04946791⟩ Plus de détails...
Reverse osmosis membranes are intended to constitute a complete physical barrier against nanometricsized pathogens such as enteric viruses. Literature describes low-pressure reverse osmosis achieves high viral removal rates (above 5 log), surpassing those of ultrafiltration (1 to 3 log). However, these studies often used individual viruses and high feed viral concentrations (above 10 9 virus L -1 ), greater than typical viral concentrations present in the environment like groundwater, to promote virus detection in the permeate. These high concentrations can promote viral aggregation, potentially affecting the observed retention. This work evaluates the simultaneous elimination of three viruses during the production of drinking water by low-pressure reverse osmosis: two enteric viruses (adenovirus 41 and coxsackievirus-B5) and bacteriophage MS2, a widely used virus surrogate in the literature. The permeates produced by low-pressure reverse osmosis were concentrated to allow virus detection in permeate at lower feed concentrations (10 6 virus L -1 ) while staying above the limits of detection and quantification. Experiments were carried out on two pilot plants of different scales (laboratory and semi-industrial) to assess the potential effect of the number of membranes and O-rings on virus retention. The effect of the volume concentration factor on low-pressure reverse osmosis efficiency was evaluated for each scale. Results indicate an average viral reduction of 6 log (up to 7 log), regardless of the size of the virus or the scale of LPRO pilot. For the semi-industrial scale, better retention was observed as the volume concentration factor increased. However, viruses were still present in the permeate for each scale (even if close to the detection limit), indicating that retention was not complete. At the same feed viral concentrations, the number of viruses recovered in the semi-industrial scale permeates was higher than in the laboratory scale. A 24-fold greater the number of membranes and O-rings used for the semi-industrial scale showed that micro-leaks through O-rings could be responsible for the passage of viruses into the permeate.
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Jacques Geslin, Laurent Moulin, et al.. Effect of volumetric concentration factor on virus removal for low-pressure reverse osmosis membrane in drinking water production: a study on different scales. Water Research, 2024, 267, pp.122536. ⟨10.1016/j.watres.2024.122536⟩. ⟨hal-04946791⟩
M. Monnot, Joanna Ollivier, H. Taligrot, Pascal Garry, Clémence Cordier, et al.. Retention of Virus Versus Surrogate, by Ultrafiltration in Seawater: Case Study of Norovirus Versus Tulane. Food and Environmental Virology, 2024, 16 (1), pp.14-24. ⟨10.1007/s12560-023-09574-z⟩. ⟨hal-04669260⟩ Plus de détails...
In the field of chemical engineering and water treatment, the study of viruses, included surrogates, is well documented. Often, surrogates are used to study viruses and their behavior because they can be produced in larger quantities in safer conditions and are easier to handle. In fact, surrogates allow studying microorganisms which are non-infectious to humans but share some properties similar to pathogenic viruses: structure, composition, morphology, and size. Human noroviruses, recognized as the leading cause of epidemics and sporadic cases of gastroenteritis across all age groups, may be mimicked by the Tulane virus. The objectives of this work were to study (i) the ultrafiltration of Tulane virus and norovirus to validate that Tulane virus can be used as a surrogate for norovirus in water treatment process and (ii) the retention of norovirus and the surrogate as a function of water quality to better understand the use of the latter pathogenic viruses. Ultrafiltration tests showed significant logarithmic reduction values (LRV) in viral RNA: around 2.5 for global LRV (i.e., based on the initial and permeate average concentrations) and between 2 and 6 for average LRV (i.e., retention rate considering the increase of viral concentration in the retentate), both for norovirus and the surrogate Tulane virus. Higher reduction rates (from 2 to 6 log genome copies) are obtained for higher initial concentrations (from 101 to 107 genome copies per mL) due to virus aggregation in membrane lumen. Tulane virus appears to be a good surrogate for norovirus retention by membrane processes.
M. Monnot, Joanna Ollivier, H. Taligrot, Pascal Garry, Clémence Cordier, et al.. Retention of Virus Versus Surrogate, by Ultrafiltration in Seawater: Case Study of Norovirus Versus Tulane. Food and Environmental Virology, 2024, 16 (1), pp.14-24. ⟨10.1007/s12560-023-09574-z⟩. ⟨hal-04669260⟩
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Laurent Moulin, Philippe Moulin. Implementation of a sensitive method to assess high virus retention performance of low-pressure reverse osmosis process. Food and Environmental Virology, 2023, 16 (1), pp.97-108. ⟨10.1007/s12560-023-09570-3⟩. ⟨hal-04946783⟩ Plus de détails...
Human enteric viruses are important etiological agents of waterborne diseases. Environmental waters are usually contaminated with low virus concentration requiring large concentration factors for effective detection by (RT)-qPCR. Low pressure reverse osmosis is often used to remove water contaminants, but very few studies focused on the effective virus removal of reverse osmosis treatment with feed concentrations as close as possible to environmental concentrations, and principally relied on theoretical virus removal. The very low viral concentrations usually reported in the permeates (i.e. at least 5 log of removal rate) mean that very large volumes of water need to be analysed to have sufficient sensitivity and assess the process efficiency. This study evaluates two methods for the concentration of adenoviruses, enteroviruses and MS2 bacteriophages at different viral concentrations in large (<200 L) and very large (>200 L) volumes. The first method is composed of two ultrafiltration membranes with low molecular weight cut-offs while the second method primarily relies on adsorption and elution phases using electropositive-charged filters. The recovery rates were assessed for both methods. For the ultrafiltration-based protocol, recovery rates were similar for each virus studied: 80 % on average at high virus concentrations (10 6 -10 7 viruses L -1 ) and 50 % at low virus concentrations (10 3 -10 4 viruses L - 1 ). For the electropositive-charged filter-based method, the average recoveries obtained were about 36 % for ADV 41, 57 % for CV-B5 and 1.6 % for MS2. The ultrafiltration-based method was then used to evaluate the performance of a low-pressure reverse osmosis lab-scale pilot plant. The retentions by reverse osmosis were similar for all studied viruses and the validated recovery rates applied to the system confirmed the reliability of the concentration method. This method was effective in concentrating all three viruses over a wide range of viral concentrations. Moreover, the second concentration method using electropositive-charged filters was studied, allowing the filtration of larger volumes of permeate from a semi-industrial low-pressure reverse osmosis pilot plant. This reference method was used because of the inability of the UF method to filter volumes on the order of one cubic metre.
Hugo Taligrot, Sébastien Wurtzer, Mathias Monnot, Laurent Moulin, Philippe Moulin. Implementation of a sensitive method to assess high virus retention performance of low-pressure reverse osmosis process. Food and Environmental Virology, 2023, 16 (1), pp.97-108. ⟨10.1007/s12560-023-09570-3⟩. ⟨hal-04946783⟩
In this study, we present a new approach for the growth monitoring of crystals using micro X-ray computed tomography (XCT). This technique allows us to track the evolution of the total crystal volume and surface in real time, and to calculate the growth rate. By segmenting the 3D XCT images using a robust method, we are able to extract detailed information about the crystals, such as their number, volume, diameter, and sphericity. Additionally, we determine the growth rates of individual crystal faces. Our method has the potential to greatly benefit the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, as it provides insight into the structural parameters of crystals during growth, which is crucial for optimization and control.
Gautier Hypolite, Jérôme Vicente, Hugo Taligrot, Philippe Moulin. X-ray tomography crystal characterization: Growth monitoring. Journal of Crystal Growth, 2023, 612, pp.127187. ⟨10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2023.127187⟩. ⟨hal-04543531⟩
In this study, we present a new approach for the growth monitoring of crystals using micro X-ray computed tomography (XCT). This technique allows us to track the evolution of the total crystal volume and surface in real time, and to calculate the growth rate. By segmenting the 3D XCT images using a robust method, we are able to extract detailed information about the crystals, such as their number, volume, diameter, and sphericity. Additionally, we determine the growth rates of individual crystal faces. Our method has the potential to greatly benefit the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, as it provides insight into the structural parameters of crystals during growth, which is crucial for optimization and control.
Gautier Hypolite, Jérôme Vicente, Hugo Taligrot, Philippe Moulin. X-ray tomography crystal characterization: Growth monitoring. Journal of Crystal Growth, 2023, 612, pp.127187. ⟨10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2023.127187⟩. ⟨hal-04071090⟩
Mathieu Martino, Hugo Taligrot, Clémence Cordier, Philippe Moulin. Supercritical fluid treatment of organic membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 2022, 661, pp.120892. ⟨10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120892⟩. ⟨hal-04063877⟩ Plus de détails...
Membrane processes are used for drinking water production and medical applications to remove and/or produce viruses using organic membranes. It appears that backwashing is not sufficient to remove all the viruses stopped by the membrane. The use of "one-shot" membranes or chlorinated solution filtration can be considered with an additional cost and accelerated aging of the membranes respectively. The inactivation of bacteria, spores and/or viruses has been demonstrated by the use of supercritical fluid. The use of a supercritical CO 2 treatment of organic membranes is studied with the aim to investigate the impact of this treatment on the membrane performances and on virus destruction. It is demonstrated that whatever the operating conditions, the membrane materials and the application modes, the permeability and the retention of the membrane are not impacted. TEM observation of the viruses after treatment shows no virus integrity.
Mathieu Martino, Hugo Taligrot, Clémence Cordier, Philippe Moulin. Supercritical fluid treatment of organic membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 2022, 661, pp.120892. ⟨10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120892⟩. ⟨hal-04063877⟩
Mathieu Martino, Hugo Taligrot, Clémence Cordier, Philippe Moulin. Supercritical fluid treatment of organic membranes. Journal of Membrane Science, 2022, 661, pp.120892. ⟨10.1016/j.memsci.2022.120892⟩. ⟨hal-03967095⟩ Plus de détails...
H. Taligrot, M. Monnot, J. Ollivier, C. Cordier, N. Jacquet, et al.. Retention of the Tulane virus, a norovirus surrogate, by ultrafiltration in seawater and production systems. Aquaculture, 2022, 553, pp.738096. ⟨10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.738096⟩. ⟨hal-04063881⟩ Plus de détails...
Shellfish as a foodstuff must meet sanitary quality objectives for the protection of consumers and this quality is closely linked to the water. The oyster industry considered this challenge related to contaminations and currently, the major risk of disease is due to the presence of norovirus (NoV) since all oyster-consuming countries report outbreaks of gastroenteritis linked to the presence of this microorganism. Ultrafiltration has already demonstrated to be efficient for viral protection of oyster farms in previous studies. In this work, retention by ultrafiltration of Tulane virus, a NoV surrogate, was evaluated. The effect of virus concentration in the feed on the ultrafiltration efficiency has been assessed. Low retentions of about 1 log were observed at the lowest viral concentrations. At higher concentrations, an increase of retention up to 5 log was obtained. These results highlight the potential overestimation of UF efficiency during laboratory experiments realized at high concentrations, compared to low concentrations found in environmental resources. In agreement with other studies, higher retentions at high concentrations could be explained by formation of viral aggregates, which could facilitate the steric exclusion but also modify the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between isolated viruses/aggregates and membrane. Virus retentions with a fresh mineral water (Evian water) and seawater were compared. Seawater achieved higher retention rates for Tulane virus due to the membrane fouling.
H. Taligrot, M. Monnot, J. Ollivier, C. Cordier, N. Jacquet, et al.. Retention of the Tulane virus, a norovirus surrogate, by ultrafiltration in seawater and production systems. Aquaculture, 2022, 553, pp.738096. ⟨10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.738096⟩. ⟨hal-04063881⟩
H. Taligrot, M. Monnot, J. Ollivier, C. Cordier, N. Jacquet, et al.. Retention of the Tulane virus, a norovirus surrogate, by ultrafiltration in seawater and production systems. Aquaculture, 2022, 553, pp.738096. ⟨10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.738096⟩. ⟨hal-03967224⟩ Plus de détails...
Shellfish as a foodstuff must meet sanitary quality objectives for the protection of consumers and this quality is closely linked to the water. The oyster industry considered this challenge related to contaminations and currently, the major risk of disease is due to the presence of norovirus (NoV) since all oyster-consuming countries report outbreaks of gastroenteritis linked to the presence of this microorganism. Ultrafiltration has already demonstrated to be efficient for viral protection of oyster farms in previous studies. In this work, retention by ultrafiltration of Tulane virus, a NoV surrogate, was evaluated. The effect of virus concentration in the feed on the ultrafiltration efficiency has been assessed. Low retentions of about 1 log were observed at the lowest viral concentrations. At higher concentrations, an increase of retention up to 5 log was obtained. These results highlight the potential overestimation of UF efficiency during laboratory experiments realized at high concentrations, compared to low concentrations found in environmental resources. In agreement with other studies, higher retentions at high concentrations could be explained by formation of viral aggregates, which could facilitate the steric exclusion but also modify the electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions between isolated viruses/aggregates and membrane. Virus retentions with a fresh mineral water (Evian water) and seawater were compared. Seawater achieved higher retention rates for Tulane virus due to the membrane fouling.
H. Taligrot, M. Monnot, J. Ollivier, C. Cordier, N. Jacquet, et al.. Retention of the Tulane virus, a norovirus surrogate, by ultrafiltration in seawater and production systems. Aquaculture, 2022, 553, pp.738096. ⟨10.1016/j.aquaculture.2022.738096⟩. ⟨hal-03967224⟩
