AWWA MTC53652

AWWA MTC53652 Treatment of Surface Waters Using an Integrated Membrane Treatment System
Conference Proceeding by American Water Works Association, 05/01/2001

Basu, Onita D.;Huck, Peter M.

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Membranes for the production of potable water are becoming an increasingly viablealternative to conventional treatment trains. Membranes can produce water at aquality equal to or better than that supplied by current traditional processes byproviding an absolute barrier to microorganisms, decreasing the amount ofchemicals required to treat water and as a result also decreasing the amount ofdisinfection byproducts (DBPs) produced. Additionally, membrane systems tend toproduce a consistent water quality regardless of fluctuations in the raw watercharacteristics. Nanofiltration (NF) membranes are most commonly used for colorand hardness removal but also facilitate high removal of DBP precursors, totalorganic carbon (TOC) and some pesticides. Fouling by organics and turbidity on NFmembranes can severely limit their potential usage with surface water sources. Anultrafiltration (UF) membrane can be utilized to decrease the loading on the NFmembrane by removing higher molecular weight organics, turbidity and colloidalmatter. As such, an integrated UF/NF system may be a feasible alternative for thetreatment of surface waters. This type of system has the further advantage ofproviding a multibarrier assurance of the removal of microorganisms. The overallgoal of this research is to evaluate an integrated UF/NF membrane system combinedwith a bioreactor in order to determine if the process can compete with a wellrun coagulation/ flocculation/sedimentation (CFS) process for the production ofdrinking water from a surface water source. This will be a multiphase projectwith the initial work focusing on fouling control and prediction, especiallybiofouling. Fouling is the major limitation to the utilization of membranes forsurface water systems. The ability to predict fouling by analysis of the rawwater will be assessed, along with nutrient removal as a technique to control biofouling. Includes 38 references, table.