Biofouling in industrial equipment: a look at quorum sensing and quorum quenching as anti-fouling strategies in membrane bioreactors

One of the major techniques used in various industrial processes and separation techniques is membrane technology, among which membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are a key component. While the demand for membrane technology is rising, membrane fouling remains a major issue. Fouling has a lot of economic consequences, and overtime proves very harmful to the environment and industry alike. Particularly in the marine and membrane bioreactor industry, biofouling is very predominant. Hence, an understanding of fouling and its mitigation is crucial to enable effective management and control of fouling in industries, minimizing damage as much as possible. With biofouling, quorum sensing and quorum quenching have come up as a novel method to monitor and mitigate biofouling. The bacterial communication through signalling molecules known as quorum sensing has gained importance because of its applicability in various fields of study. Quorum sensing regulates numerous bacterial activities such as antibiotic resistance biofilm formation, etc. Microbial communications are responsible for this biofouling behaviour. Novel techniques for stopping this communication, known as quorum quenching (QQ), appear to be effective for biofouling mitigation. This review attempts to look at quorum sensing and quorum quenching as techniques to mitigate fouling.