Full Description

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) and endocrine disruptingsubstances (EDS) have emerged as compounds of concern, particularly whenpresent in raw water for drinking water production. Membrane filtration andespecially nanofiltration (NF) is a promising technique for the removal of theseemerging contaminants from surface water. In this study biological filtration isused as pretreatment for ultrafiltration (UF) and NF, and each filtration processis studied alone and in combination with biological filtration. The overall goals aretwofold, to study the removal of selected contaminants and to assessmembrane fouling at the same time. Compounds investigated are the herbicideatrazine, the anti-epileptic carbamazepine, the insect repellent DEET, the anti-inflammatoriesibuprofen and naproxen, and the detergent degradation byproductnonylphenol. Biological filtration prior to membrane filtration has the potential toremove or minimize the foulant materials but may also be capable of removingselected contaminants. Surface water from a local river was passed through aroughing filter prior to being used in these experiments. Initial results were mainlyas expected, namely low removals of contaminants with UF and high removalswith NF. Biological filtration showed some contaminant removal but results needto be confirmed. Even with a preceding roughing filter NF can not be operated forany length of time due to severe fouling thus making pretreatment necessary.Preliminary experiments showed a reduction in fouling of the NF unit whenemploying biofiltration. UF showed good turbidity removal and some TOCremoval. Includes 14 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/01/2007 Number of Pages: 14File Size: 1 file , 490 KB