Full Description

Current and proposed regulations focus on increasingly stricter water quality goals with respect to microbial andturbidity removal, while also including challenges such as balancing microbial risk and minimization of disinfection byproducts(DBPs). Microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) are low-pressure membrane treatment processes that functionby physically straining pathogens and other particulate matter, and do not require use of chemical oxidants to disinfect feedwater. They are capable of providing effective removal of microbial and particulate contaminants. Thus, they have becomeextremely attractive technologies for meeting the challenges of current and proposed regulations.Effective contaminant removal using MF/UF processes assumes that the integrity of the membranes remains intact.Integrity monitoring is required to ensure high and consistent finished water quality. Thus, currently one of the mostimportant issues in the practical application and proper regulatory acceptance of these processes involves the methods ofmonitoring the integrity of the membrane and the process. However, effects of membrane integrity on process performanceand the various methods and tools available for integrity monitoring have not yet been analyzed in detail for different types ofmembrane systems, especially from results derived from full-scale testing and validation. Dilution effects of an integritybreach are different in pilot scale units versus full-scale membrane racks. Thus, full scale testing is required for proper andrealistic evaluation of these methods.The work presented here is being performed as part of an ongoing AwwaRF research project on integrity testing oflow-pressure membrane processes. The study includes testing of various integrity monitoring methods at full-scale at selectedwater treatment plants. The testing is being performed at six participant membrane plants representing different membranesystems. At the time of writing this manuscript, the testing at the fourth plant in the sequence has been completed. This paperpresents interim results from the ongoing research project. Includes 4 references, table, figures.

Product Details

Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 03/05/2003 Number of Pages: 6File Size: 1 file , 190 KB