Investigation of two ultrafiltration membranes for treatment of olive oil mill wastewater

In this study, a promising treatment method is given for the olive oil mill wastewater (OMWW). Although the same steps of this method have been used in different studies before, flow scheme is novel. The membrane filtration of pretreated OMWW was investigated by using two ultrafiltration membranes in this study. Pretreatment steps were pH adjustment (pH = 2) and cartridge filter filtration, and pH adjustment (pH = 6) and cartridge filter filtration. Each step of cartridge filter filtration was batch process and effluent from the filter was recycled back to OMWW tank. Pretreated OMWW was sent to feed vessel of experimental set-up. Recovery of olive oil in the OMWW was realized collecting it from the top of pretreated OMWW. Ultrafiltration membranes used were JW and MW membranes supplied by Osmonics. The effects of main operating parameters (transmembrane pressure, feed flow rate, pH and membrane type) on the permeate flux and membrane fouling were examined. The effectiveness of the different membranes and operating conditions was evaluated using retention coefficients calculated from COD and TOC of experimental studies. The highest permeate flux (25.9 l/m² h) was obtained using MW membrane under operational conditions of Qf = 200 l/h flow rate and TMP = 4 bar, while the highest removals were obtained at Qf = 100 l/h flow rate and TMP = 1 bar. COD, TOC, SS, oil and grease concentrations of MW membrane effluent were 6400 mg/l, 2592 mg/l, 320 mg/l, and 270 mg/l, respectively.     

Experiment and calculation of filtration processes in an external-loop airlift ceramic membrane bioreactor

Air sparging is recognized as an effective way to increase permeate flux in membrane filtration processes. The application of air sparging with an external-loop airlift ceramic membrane bioreactor was studied at different gas flow rates, biomass concentrations and suction pressures. A 180% increase in permeate flux was obtained while filtering a 2 g/L activated sludge wastewater suspension with the airlift cross-flow operation for U_g=0.21 m/s. The mechanism of flux enhancement in the case of slug flow in tubular membrane was discussed. The region near the gas slug was divided into three different zones: falling film zone, wake zone and remaining liquid slug zone. Air sparging significantly lowered cake thickness and consequently cake resistances for the wake region and the falling film region. A novel model combining hydrodynamic of gas-liquid two-phase flow and cake resistance was developed to simulate the process. The model was validated with experimental data with an error of 8.3%.     

Tubular Membrane Filtration with A Side Stream and its Intermittent Backwash Operation

The tubular membrane filtration system is widely applied to solid-liquid separation processes. Any improvements to the filtration module would increase separation efficiency, thus reducing operating costs. In this experiment, PMMA powder with an average particle diameter of 0.8 µm was filtered by a ceramic tubular membrane with an average pore size of 0.2 µm, and the impacts of the operating variables, such as suspension concentration, the filtration pressure, and the crossflow velocity on the permeate flux were discussed. In order to understand the increased permeate flux, the proposed module is comparable to the tubular membrane filtration module, but with an additional side stream under the same filtration mass flow rate. In addition, variations of shear force on the membrane surface are analyzed by CFD simulation, and the influence of backwash operations on the permeate flux is discussed. The results show that the side stream membrane filtration increased the shear force on the membrane surface, reduced fouling on the membrane surface, and increased the permeate flux. Furthermore, a backwash operation with a side stream flow channel could effectively clean the particles deposited in the module, thus, increasing the permeate flux.     

Influence of operation parameters on the separation of mixtures by pervaporation and vapor permeation with inorganic membranes. Part 1: Dehydration of solvents

The separation performance of two different commercially available tubular inorganic membranes was studied for solvent dehydration. The separation layers consisted of A-type zeolite and microporous silica. The membrane characteristics were determined as function of operating conditions such as feed composition, temperature, and permeate pressure in pervaporation and vapor permeation. Among different membranes of the same batch, flux and selectivity were reproducible within 10%. The partial flux of water as the preferentially permeating component increases linearly with the water vapor pressure difference between feed and permeate and depends only marginally (viscosity influence) upon the properties of the organic component. The flux of the organic (retained) component is low and can best be described by assuming a substance and membrane specific permeance (flux over partial pressure difference) that is independent of composition. At very low water concentration in the feed one would expect a strong increase in permeability of the retained component through non-zeolite pores and larger silica pores as predicted by pure component measurements. However, this effect was not observed in mixtures within the concentration range studied here. A temperature rise improves flux rates exponentially while selectivity remains high. Thus, higher module cost in comparison to polymeric membranes can be compensated by reduced membrane area if a higher operating temperature can be chosen. Flux and selectivity decline as a function of permeate pressure with decreasing driving force. In vapor permeation with inorganic membranes superheating of the vaporous feed improves their performance while for polymeric materials a steep flux decline is observed. High flux and selectivity are obtained in the separation of water from alcohols. The normalized flux values of the A-type zeolite membrane are roughly 10 kg/m² h bar with a mixture selectivity of 2000 for methanol, 4000 for ethanol and 8000 for n-butanol. The average permeance of the amorphous silica membrane lies above 12 kg/m² h bar with mixture selectivity of 50 for methanol, 500 for ethanol and 2000 for n-butanol. The separation mechanism is mainly based on adsorption and diffusion enhanced by shape selectivity and size exclusion in some cases. The transport characteristics could be described with a simple transport model based on normalized permeate fluxes. With regard to the operation stability of the membranes, no deterioration of the performance was observed for the A-type zeolite in solvent dehydration or in separation of water from reaction mixtures. The silica membrane showed an initial conditioning effect involving a rearrangement of Si-OH groups with an increase in selectivity and decrease in flux of about 30%. After a few hours the performance stabilized and remained constant during further operation.     

The effects of performance and cleaning cycles of new tubular ceramic microfiltration membrane fouled with a model yeast suspension

The efficiency of crossflow microfiltration processes is limited by membrane fouling and concentration polarization leading to permeate flux decline during operation. The experiments that were carried out in the laboratory were conducted to determine and investigate the performance, behaviour and the fouling susceptibility of new ceramic tubular microfiltration membranes during the crossflow filtration of yeast suspensions. The tubular membranes of nominal pore size 0.5 microns were fouled over a varied range of concentration, temperatures, pH, crossflow velocities and system pressures. The typical filtration conditions were at a temperature of 25°C, a system pressure of 1.5 bar and a concentration of 0.03 g/L yeast suspension. These parameters varied during subsequent investigations. After each experiment, the membrane and the rig were cleaned using a three stage cleaning process and was reused in order to replicate industrial filtration conditions. The effects of repeated fouling and cleaning cycles upon membrane flux over time and cleaning efficiency are investigated and their influence over time is also documented. For every experiment, the flux data was recorded over a 50 min period and the membrane was changed after the PWF declined considerably due to excessive fouling over time. Chemical cleaning consisted of a sequential application of a 1% caustic solution through the rig followed by a 2% hypochlorite solution and a 2% nitric solution, all at 50°C. The permeate flux was shown to decrease with filtration time during the development of the fouling layer. Once the fouling layer was developed and established, there appeared to be a leveling of permeate flux. The experimental results are presented in the report and the flux values at different conditions are presented.     

Purification of Minute Virus of Mice using high performance tangential flow filtration

Membrane technology has proven to be a mainstay separation technology over the past two decades. Some major advantages of membrane technology are application without the addition of chemicals and a comparatively low energy use. With its current applications, membrane technology has been widely used in biotechnology processes. Cell harvesting and virus purification/removal are important processes in many downstream purifications of biopharmaceutical products. For this project, ultrafiltration (UF) for virus purification from cell culture broth was used. Recently, it has been demonstrated that UF is a powerful tool for purification of other viruses such as Aedes aegypti and virus-like particles. More precisely, high performance tangential flow filtration (HPTFF) will be used, which was first introduced by Robert van Reis in 1997. To date HPTFF has been used in other projects, as for protein concentration, purification, and buffer exchange as a single unit operation. The virus used in this study was the parvovirus Minute Virus of Mice (MVM); characterized by an average diameter of 22-26 nm and icosahedral symmetry. Experiments were conducted with 300, 100 and 50 kDa Sartorius membranes. Results obtained indicate that using the 50 or 100 kDa membrane, viral particles get excluded, whereas the 300 kDa membrane allows the passage of the virus particles into the permeate. In HPTFF mode the permeate flux decline of the 300 kDa ultrafiltration membrane is much greater than for the other membranes used. One possible explanation for this decay could have to do with the virus particles' access to the membrane pores (gradual pore narrowing). Additionally the permeate flux and level of protein rejection as well, are strongly affected by the cell culture medium.     

Flux recovery of tubular ceramic membranes fouled with whey proteins

Membrane process efficiency is governed by the formation of fouling deposits during processing of dairy fluids. Because of fouling with whey proteins, permeate flux can drastically decline during filtration process. This paper describes the flux recovery procedure for ceramic tubular membranes (50 and 200 nm pore sizes) fouled with whey proteins. The results comprehend the effect of rinsing and cleaning agent choice and concentration, on the cleaning efficiency. As chemical cleaning agents, the caustic solution and the commercial detergents P3-ultrasil 67 and P3-ultrasil 69 were selected. The observations are that rinsing with deionised water contributes to a flux recovery to a certain degree. For the 50 nm membrane, the choice of the 1.0% (w/w) caustic solution, as cleaning agent, gives the best flux recovery. For the 200 nm, total flux recovery was not observed regardless of the cleaning agent choice and concentration. Cleaning with chosen commercial detergent appeared to be less efficient than cleaning with caustic solution for the chosen ceramic membranes. Also, a mathematical model, proposed in this study, has shown high agreement with experimentally obtained data.     

Stainless steel membrane UF coupled with NF process for the recovery of sodium hydroxide from alkaline wastewater in chitin processing

The recovery of sodium hydroxide from alkali wastewater in chitin processing was investigated using stainless steel ultrafiltration membrane (SSM) and HDS-04 nanofiltration (NF) membranes with membrane area of 0.35 m² and 1.4 m², respectively. Flux behaviors were observed with respect to filtration time, volumetric concentration ratio (VCR), operating pressure, temperature, and cleaning. As the VCR increased, the permeate flux declined while almost the same concentration of NaOH was permeable. The SSM and NF operations end with a concentrated protein solution that needed a small amount of waste acid for neutralization and easy spray drying and the permeate of the NaOH solution can be reused. Concentrations of NaOH that govern reusability of permeate were measured to be independent on VCR. The most suitable VCRs for SSM and NF in terms of maintaining relatively good membrane productivity and high rejection of protein and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were approximately 50. At a VCR of 50, the total rejections of protein, COD and suspended solid (SS) were 82.5%, 94% and 100%, respectively, while total NaOH recovery was 96% with SSM average flux 270 LMH and NF average flux 25 LMH. SSM filtration was essential for the pretreatment of the alkali wastewater before it was fed into the NF system.     

Treatment of oily wastewater using low cost ceramic membrane: Comparative assessment of pore blocking and artificial neural network models

This work addresses the performance and modeling of the separation of oil-in-water (o/w) emulsions using low cost ceramic membrane that was prepared from inorganic precursors such as kaolin, quartz, feldspar, sodium carbonate, boric acid and sodium metasilicate. Synthetic o/w emulsions constituting 125 and 250 mg/L oil concentrations were subjected to microfiltration (MF) using this membrane in batch mode of operation with varying trans-membrane pressure differentials (ΔP) ranging from 68.95 to 275.8 kPa. The membrane exhibited 98.8% oil rejection efficiency and 5.36 × 10⁻⁶ m³/m² s permeate flux after 60 min of experimental run at 68.95 kPa trans-membrane pressure and 250 mg/L initial oil concentration. These experimental investigations confirmed the applicability of the prepared membrane in the treatment of o/w emulsions to yield permeate streams that can meet stricter environmental legislations (<10 mg/L). Subsequently, the experimental flux data has been subjected to modeling study using both conventional pore blocking models as well as back propagation-based multi-layer feed forward artificial neural network (ANN) model. Amongst several pore blocking models, the cake filtration model has been evaluated to be the best to represent the fouling phenomena. ANN has been found to perform better than the cake filtration model for the permeate flux prediction with marginally lower error values.     

Separation of casein from whey proteins by dynamic filtration

It has been proven that functional properties of milk proteins can improve the quality and nutritional value of foods. This paper investigates the separation of whey proteins from casein micelles using a Multi Shaft Disk (MSD) module and a rotating disk dynamic filtration module. The MSD module was equipped with 6 ceramic membranes of 0.2 µm pores. PVDF and Nylon membranes of 0.2 µm pores were tested in the rotating disk module. Permeate flux with the MSD module increased with TMP and rotation speed, reaching a maximum of 132 L h^− 1 m^− 2 at 1931 rpm. α-Lactalbumin (α-La) and β-Lactoglobulin (β-Lg) transmissions also increased with rotation speed, ranging from 25% at 1044 rpm to 40% at 1931 rpm . With a Nylon membrane, the rotating disk module yielded lower permeate fluxes than the MSD module, while when equipped with a PVDF membrane it provided higher permeate fluxes than the MSD, but casein micelles rejection was lower. α-La and β-Lg transmissions were higher with the rotating disk module, using Nylon and PVDF membranes, than for the MSD. From this comparison, it can be concluded that the MSD module gave the best compromise between high permeate flux, high α-La and β-Lg transmissions and high casein micelles rejection.     

A pilot scale study of reverse osmosis for the purification of condensate arising from distillery stillage concentration plant

Reverse osmosis (RO) is an interesting process to eliminate small organic solutes (carboxylic acids and alcohols) from distillery condensates before recycling them into the fermentation step. This work investigates the influence of transmembrane pressure, pH and volume reduction factor (VRF) on the efficiency of reverse osmosis treatment of condensate from distillery stillage concentration at pilot scale using three pre-selected membranes (CPA2 and ESPA2 from Hydranautics, BW30 from DOW). Performances were assessed according to permeate flux, solutes rejection and abatement of fermentation inhibition. Transmembrane pressure increase leads to an increase of these three parameters with a plateau for rejections and abatement at 20 bar; however, in order to comply with membranes manufacturer's recommendations and to limit or delay polarization and fouling, it was decided to keep the permeate flux below a value of 30 L h⁻¹ m⁻². This corresponded to a maximum pressure of 10 bar for CPA2 and ESPA2 membranes and 25 bar for BW30 membrane. pH increase leads to a diminution of permeate flux and an increase of carboxylic acids rejection whatever the membrane; nevertheless, no abatement of fermentation inhibition is observed. Increasing VRF provokes a decrease of the permeate flux. Although local rejections are stable, the mean rejection assessed with the raw condensate (feed) and the mean permeate decreases. However, the fermentation inhibition remains under 10% up to a VRF of 8. BW30 membrane exhibits the highest rejections and inhibition abatement. On the basis of the pilot scale results with the BW30 membrane, a preliminary estimation of the membrane area is proposed for an industrial plant with 100 m³ h⁻¹ of condensate flow rate and the optimized parameters (pressure 25 bar, no pH modification, VRF 4 and 8).     

Concentration of biologically active compounds extracted from Sideritis ssp. L. by nanofiltration

In the present study experimental results on the nanofiltration of ethanolic extracts from Sideritis ssp. L. are reported, regarding polyphenols and flavonoids concentration and solvent reuse. Three membranes, resistant to organic solvents, have been used: Starmem™ 240 (polyimide), Duramem™ 300 and Duramem™ 500 (both of them modified polyimide). The dependence of the membrane rejection on its MWCO is presented. The separation of flavonoids from phenols with lower molecular weight is found possible at MWCO > 400 Da. A decrease of the flux is observed at permeate to feed volume ratio of about 0.58, thus indicating the existence of a critical concentration, independent of the feed volume and MWCO of the membranes used. The membrane behaviour during nanofiltration has been characterised by ESEM and ATR-FTIR.Concentrations of active compounds up to 3-4 times higher have been obtained in the retentates. The extracts concentrated by nanofiltration preserve their high antioxidant activity. Further dilution of the retentates displays a logarithmic concentration dependence of the radical scavenging activity. The experiments have proved the possibility for permeate use for extraction instead of ethanol, thus essentially reducing the volume of the solvent.     

Reducing pollution from the deliming–bating operation in a tannery. Wastewater reuse by microfiltration membranes

This paper presents experimental results from the implementation of two measures aimed at reducing the nitrogen concentration in a tannery wastewater. Specifically, this research has focused on the wastewater from the deliming/bating operations. The proposed measures are the replacement of ammonium salts by carbon dioxide in the deliming process and the reuse of wastewater and chemicals after membrane filtration of the deliming/bating liquor. The experimental study covered different wastewater pretreatment alternatives and experiments with two membranes (with different separation properties): one in the range of microfiltration (MF) and one in the range of the ultrafiltration (UF). Results of the pretreatment study indicated that neither settling nor protein precipitation were feasible. Only a security filtration prior to membrane filtration was recommended. The tested MF membrane was selected due to the higher flux (around 25 L/(m² h)) in comparison with the UF membrane. The MF permeate was successfully reused in the deliming/bating process. The delimed leather quality was excellent according to both visual and organoleptic inspection from process technicians and phenolphthalein test, confirming the technical feasibility of the proposal. Globally, the implementation of the above mentioned two measures resulted in 53% total nitrogen reduction.     

Cleaner production of ephedrine from Ephedra sinica Stapf by membrane separation technology

A promising cleaner approach, including chemical extraction, separation and purification by membranes separation technology, for producing ephedrine from Ephedra sinica Stapf was introduced. The extraction yield of ephedrine reached 92.45 ± 0.46%, increased by 28.25 ± 0.13% than that of the traditional process, at solid-to-liquid ratio of 1/10, extraction temperature of 80 °C, total extraction time of 20 h and reextraction for 3 times. In microfiltration, the transmissivity for ephedrine was up to 97.88 ± 1.06% and the retention rate of impurities reached 78.56 ± 0.96% when the membranes with pore size of 0.45 μm were employed at inlet and outlet operating pressure of 0.26 MPa and 0.14 MPa, respectively. The surface velocity of membrane channel was 3.5 m s⁻¹ and membrane flux was 207 ± 3.71 l m⁻² h⁻¹. Nanofiltration membranes with 160 Da molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) were adopted to separate the ephedrine from microfiltration permeate at a transmembrane pressure of 0.6 MPa wherein the retention rate of ephedrine reached 99.88 ± 0.23% and the membrane flux was 19.88 ± 1.12 l m⁻² h⁻¹. For this improved approach, the COD of nanofiltration permeate was only 110 ± 12.56 mg l⁻¹ which could be recycled to the extraction process, causing a decrease by 59.38 ± 1.67% of water consumption and 75.76 ± 1.89% of wastewater generation in comparison with those of the traditional process.     

Possibilities for the use of membrane processes for the pre-treatment of wastewater from the production of dried potato purée

Our research focused on the membrane separation of wastewater resulting from the production of dried potato purée. Our aim was to investigate possibilities for recycling obtained retentate back to the actual production process, and, consequently, for reducing wastewater pollution. This paper describes trials of MF and RO membrane filtration of starch wastewater. The treated water contained starch, in either granulated or gelatinized form, and solids (fine pieces of potato skins). The trials were conducted in either one or two stages. We used a pilot plant equipped with a ceramic membrane with a filtration area of 0.35 m² and pore sizes of 500 and 100 nm. We also tested an organic RO membrane (7410) in the laboratory.High permeate flux above 100 l/(m² h) was measured for the 100 nm membrane, but with considerable fouling. Filtration through this membrane resulted in high COD and BOD₅ rejection (approximately 60%), an effect which was increased by the subsequent RO filtration. The content of soluble carbohydrate, 0.011% in permeate (with 0.44% dry substance), was analyzed using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection.     

Process performance in lignin separation from softwood black liquor by membrane filtration

Black liquor is a side-stream in the production of kraft pulp. The extraction of lignin and hemicelluloses from black liquor would reduce the load on the recovery boiler and give valuable by-products. Lignin was separated from black liquor by membrane filtration, using one ceramic and three polymeric nanofiltration membranes, with molecular weight cut-offs in the range of 200 Da to 1 kDa. Ultrafiltration was tested as a form of pretreatment prior to nanofiltration to separate hemicelluloses from lignin. The use of ultrafiltration prior to nanofiltration increased the flux drastically in the nanofiltration step with three of the membranes. The ceramic membrane exhibited a higher flux and lower lignin retention than the polymeric membranes. The two membranes with a molecular weight cut-off of 1 kDa were found to have the best performance in parametric studies, and were therefore used in concentration studies. The results were used for a preliminary economic evaluation of the process. These calculations showed that the most cost-effective alternative for the extraction of lignin was with the polymeric 1 kDa membrane without pretreatment, and that the production cost for a lignin solution with a concentration of 230 g L⁻¹ would be 46 € per ton of lignin.     

Removal of boric acid,monoborate and boron complexes with polyols by reverse osmosis membranes

The effects of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane type on the rejection efficiency of boric acid, monoborate and boron complexes with d-mannitol, sodium d-gluconate and N-methyl d-glucamine was revealed. The membranes examined included: XLE, TW-30, BW-30 and SW-30, supplied by DOW™ FILMTEC™. The mass transport coefficients: permeability and reflection coefficient were determined for each species in boric acid–polyol aqueous system. The influence of the membrane type upon these coefficients was evaluated and quantitative, comparative analysis of the efficacy of boron rejection at varying permeate flux, the feedwater boron content, the alcohol/boron molar ratio and the pH was conducted. It was found that boron rejection in the above systems was determined by the extent of boric acid transport, even when boric acid constituted only a minor component of the feedwater. At high permeate flux the effectiveness in boric acid rejection decreased in the following descending membrane order: SW-30 > BW-30 > TW-30 > XLE. The results presented here enable the selection of the best membrane, the most suitable operating conditions for boron separation by RO in the presence or absence of polyols, and for quantitative prediction of the efficiency of boron removal with various RO membranes.     

Development of a biofilm-MBR for shipboard wastewater treatment: The effect of process configuration

The direct discharge of wastewater from ships is prohibited by the International Maritime Organization, especially discharge of oily bilge water. This study aims to develop a compact onboard integrated wastewater treatment system for all the wastewater streams on ships, including grey water, black water and bilge water, using biofilm-MBR technology. Both dead-end side-stream and recycle side-stream configurations of a biofilm-MBR concept have been investigated. Flat sheet ceramic membranes from KeraNor AS were applied in the membrane filtration unit. A good membrane permeate quality was achieved in each process configuration, with oil concentrations < 5 mg/L. However, the membrane was seriously fouled when the dead-end side-stream configuration was operated with a high filtration unit recovery (93%). A significantly improved membrane performance, and better permeate quality, was achieved by recycling the concentrate solution back to the biofilm reactor due to better bio-flocculation and biodegradation of oil compounds in the process. The effect of process configuration was investigated by comparing oil concentration, SMP, TSS, FCOD, TCOD, PSD of the concentrate solutions around the membrane in filtration unit. The membrane fouling rate was found to be directly related to oil concentration and oily biomass characteristics in the membrane filtration unit.     

Separation of non-sucrose compounds from sugar-beet syrup by ultrafiltration with ceramic membrane containing static mixer

The aim of this work was to investigate possible improvement of non-sucrose compounds separation from the syrup of raw brown sugar by application of a static mixer in an ultrafiltration process. The static mixer was expected to reduce the concentration polarization and fouling of the membrane. Non-affinated B sugar from the second stage of crystallization, diluted to 60°Bx dry matter, was used for preparing the solution subjected to the ultrafiltration. The cross-flow filtration, at a laboratory level, was carried out on the tubular ceramic membrane (Schumasiv Pall, USA), with a pore diameter of 5 nm. The separation was performed under various working conditions, with and without the presence of static mixer. The effect of turbulence promotion on filtration performances was investigated by using Kenics static mixer (FMX8124-AC, Omega). The process efficiency was quantified through the achieved values of the permeate flux, its colour and dry matter content, while the working factors were: fluid flow-rate, temperature, transmembrane pressure (TMP) and process duration. The positive effects of mixer application were proved.     

Nanocomposite hollow fiber nanofiltration membranes: Fabrication,characterization, and pilot-scale evaluation for surface water treatment

Thin-film nanocomposite (TFN) membranes were fabricated by interfacial polymerization of a polyamide (PA) layer on the shell side of hollow fiber membrane supports. TiO₂ nanoparticle loadings in the thin-film layer were 0.01, 0.05, and 0.20 wt %. Nanoparticle-free PA thin-film composite (TFC) membranes served as the comparative basis. The TFN membranes were characterized in terms of the chemical composition, structure, and surface properties of the separation layer. Incorporating nanoTiO₂ improved membrane permeability up to 12.6-fold. During preliminary laboratory-scale evaluation, TFN membranes showed lower salt rejection but higher TOC rejection in comparisons with the corresponding values for TFC controls. Based on the performance in lab-scale tests, TFN membranes with 0.01 wt % nanoTiO₂ loading were selected for an evaluation at the pilot scale with synthetic surface water as the feed. While the permeate flux during long-term pilot-scale operation gradually decreased for TFC membranes, TFN membranes had a higher initial permeate flux that gradually increased with time. The TOC rejection by TFN and TFC membranes was comparable. We conclude that TFN membranes show promise for full-scale surface water treatment applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 48205.