0011-9164/05/$– See front matter © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved Desalination 181 (2005) 75–90 Tools for membrane autopsies and antifouling strategies in seawater feeds: a review Maxime Pontié a* , Sophie Rapenne b,c , Anju Thekkedath a , Jean Duchesne d , Valérie Jacquemet c , Jérôme Leparc c , Hervé Suty c a Laboratoire des Sciences de l’Environnement et de l’Aménagement, University of Angers, UMR-MA105, 2 Bd. Lavoisier, 49045 Angers cedex 01, France Tel. +33 (2) 41 73 52 07; Fax: +33 (2) 41 73 53 52; email: maxime.pontie@univ-angers.fr b University of Poitiers, LCEE/ESIP UMR-CNRS 6008, 40 avenue du Recteur Pineau, 86022 Poitiers cedex, France c Anjou Recherche, Veolia Water, Chemin de la Digue, BP 76, 78603 Maisons-Laffitte cedex, France d National Institute of Horticulture, UMR-MA105, 2 rue Le Nôtre, 49045 Angers cedex 01, France Received 29 October 2004; accepted 7 January 2005 Abstract This review reports all the analytical tools used for the membrane autopsies in seawater feed. Furthermore, we detail the possibilities of all the different types of new possibilities of pretreatments before reverse osmosis (RO) such as microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration or membrane bioreactors. The last part gives an account of brine disposal and the possibilities of reusing RO modules for wastewater treatment. For this review a discussion about fresh water prices took place. Keywords: Membrane; Fouling diagnosis; Autopsy; Seawater 1. Introduction Operational problems in membrane installa- tions for reverse osmosis (RO) used in water treatment can be caused by a variety of fouling types. Fouling mechanisms of RO membranes include biofouling, organic fouling, inorganic fouling (including scaling) and particulate foul- ing. While inorganic scaling of membranes by *Corresponding author. calcium salts can be controlled by adjusting the pH and adding antiscalants, the prevention of colloidal, organic and biofouling is a much more difficult task that usually requires an intensive pretreatment step. Fouling will lead to higher operational costs (higher energy demand, increase of cleanings and reduced lifetime of the membrane elements). An effective control of fouling requires a good diag- nosis of the foulant present. This diagnosis is