Hybrid membrane systems for secondary effluent polishing for unrestricted reuse for agricultural irrigation.

Field experiments are in progress for secondary wastewater upgrading for unrestricted utilization for agricultural irrigation. The integrative approach of secondary effluent polishing is based on using a hybrid UltraFiltration (UF) and Reverse Osmosis (RO) membrane pilot system with a capacity of around 1 m3/hr. The UF effluent is used to feed the RO membranes. The RO permeate is subsequently applied for vegetable irrigation. Field results indicate the importance of the UF component in the removal of the organic matter and the pathogens that are still contained in the secondary effluent. Under specific conditions, when the dissolved solids content is relatively low, regarding sanitary and health aspects, the UF effluent can be applied for unrestricted irrigation. During the RO stage most nutrients are removed, allowing application of the effluent without jeopardizing the soil fertility and the aquifers. Preliminary economic assessment indicates that the extra cost for effluent polishing via the UF stage only is in the range of 5 to 15 US cents/m3. The extra cost for the RO stage is also assessed at 10 to 25 US cents/m3. The additional cost depends to a large extent on the quality of the incoming raw secondary effluent and local requirements of the command region.     

The membrane fouling simulator: a suitable tool for prediction and characterisation of membrane fouling.

A new tool--the Membrane Fouling Simulator (MFS)--is developed to measure membrane fouling (pressure drop increase) in a small and simple system, representative for spiral wound membranes applied in water treatment. With the MFS, fouling development can be monitored systematically by (i) pressure drop, (ii) in situ and non-destructive (visual) observations using the sight glass and (iii) analysis of coupons sampled from the membrane sheet in the MFS. A comparison study of the MFS with spiral wound membrane elements (test rigs and a full scale installation) showed the same fouling. The MFS provided reproducible data. The small size and low water and chemical use of the MFS facilitate to perform systematic parallel studies. With the MFS, fouling of membranes applied in water treatment can be characterised.     

Optimization of Osmotic Desalination Plants for Water Supply Networks

Water scarcity and the poor quality of water resources are leading to a wider diffusion of desalination plants using the Reverse Osmosis (RO) process. Unfortunately, the cost of a cubic meter of fresh water produced by an RO plants is still high and many efforts are in progress to increase the efficiency of the membranes used in osmotic plants and to limit the energy required by the process. A further reduction of the energy cost could be obtained by an optimal operation of the desalination plant so reducing the hourly energy cost, or by coupling the RO plant with an energy production plant based on direct osmosis (Pressure Retarded Osmosis PRO).The economic viability of the desalination process has been analyzed until now without accounting for the integration of the RO plant with the existing water network. This analysis is developed in the present paper with reference to a hypothetical change of water supply in a real network, where a desalination plant is used to satisfy the fresh water demand. Several scenarios will be analyzed to assess the minimum cost of fresh water production and water supply to the network, including the use of energy recovery systems, such as an integrated use of RO and PRO processes, or the regulation of pressure at the network intake by a micro hydro power plant.     

Precipitation Complexity Measurement Using Multifractal Spectra Empirical Mode Decomposition Detrended Fluctuation Analysis

The stability of current methods of complexity measurement are generally Inefficient. In this study, multifractal spectra (MFS) analysis, which depends on empirical mode decomposition detrended fluctuation analysis (EMD–DFA), was used to measure the complexity of the monthly precipitation series from 1964 to 2013 (50 years) of 11 districts in Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China. By comparing the anti-noise capability of MFS–EMD–DFA with that of conventional complexity measurement approaches, such as sample entropy, Lempel–Ziv complexity, and approx mate entropy, it was established that MFS–EMD–DFA has greater robustness in anti-noise jamming, and thus it could be applied more widely. The precipitation series complexity strength map of the 11 regions was drawn using a geographical information system. This study analyzed the correlation between precipitation and some meteorological factors and then ranked their strengths. The results showed that many meteorological factors have strong connections with the regional precipitation series in the study area. This study provided a solid foundation for further extraction of hydrological information in Harbin and proposed a new method for complexity analysis. The novel MFS–EMD–DFA approach could also be applied to the analysis of multifractal characteristics as well as complexity measurement in various other disciplines.     

RO brine treatment and recovery by biological activated carbon and capacitive deionization process

The generation of brine solutions from dense membrane (reverse osmosis, RO or nanofiltration, NF) water reclamation systems has been increasing worldwide, and the lack of cost effective disposal options is becoming a critical water resources management issue. In Singapore, NEWater is the product of a multiple barrier water reclamation process from secondary treated domestic effluent using MF/UF-RO and UV technologies. The RO brine (concentrates) accounts for more than 20% of the total flow treated. To increase the water recovery and treat the RO brine, a CDI based process with BAC as pretreatment was tested. The results show that ion concentrations in CDI product were low except SiO2 when compared with RO feed water. CDI product was passed through a RO and the RO permeate was of better quality including low SiO2 as compared to NEWater quality. It could be beneficial to use a dedicated RO operated at optimum conditions with better performance to recover the water. BAC was able to achieve 15-27% TOC removal of RO brine. CDI had been tested at a water recovery ranging from 71.6 to 92.3%. CDI based RO brine treatment could improve overall water recovery of NEWater production over 90%. It was found that calcium phosphate scaling and organic fouling was the major cause of CDI pressure increase. Ozone disinfection and sodium bisulfite dosing were able to reduce CDI fouling rate. For sustainable operation of CDI organic fouling control and effective organic fouling cleaning should be further studied.     

Short- and long-term fouling characteristics of reverse osmosis membrane at full scale leachate treatment plant

This research is focused on characterizing the foulants on a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken from a full-scale leachate treatment plant in Thailand. The system consists of a physico-chemical pre-treatment unit and RO system and has been in operation for 2 years. Ferric chloride (FeCl(3)) was added to the open-jet sedimentation tank at 2.0-2.5 g/l dosage for chemical coagulation. The supernatant from the sedimentation tank was polished using a pressurized sand filter prior to entering the RO system. The RO unit consists of seven pressurized vessels and 42 membrane elements (6 elements in each vessel). The recovery ratio and operating pressure in the RO system were maintained at 50% and 1.5-2.5 MPa. Fouled membranes obtained from short-term (6 months) and long-term operation (2 years) were taken from the system and analyzed by autopsy and sequential cleaning methods. The analysis of foulants on the membrane surfaces revealed that Fe deposits at 3.11 g/m(2). For short-term operated membranes, water cleaning could recover 32.14 and 7.45% of initial pure water flux on the 1st and 6th membrane elements. NaOH cleaning, however, recovered more than 90% of initial flux, much higher than that of HCl solution in both elements. For long-term operated membranes, pure water flux recovery was below 5% for both 1st and 6th elements. Sequential cleaning by NaOH followed by HCl yielded the best results. Nevertheless, flux recovery through sequential cleaning of long-term operated membranes was only 35.3 and 19.1% for the 1st and the 6th elements, respectively.     

Scale formation in NF/RO: mechanism and control.

Scale formation of soluble salts is one of the major factors limiting the application of nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. This article reviews the scale formation mechanisms in membrane systems, methods to retard scale formation, and a new hybrid system consisting of MF-NF/RO. Two distinct mechanisms in NF/RO fouling by scale formation including surface and bulk crystallization have been identified and investigated. The hydrodynamic operating conditions as well as module geometry determines which fouling mechanism is dominant. An increase in solute concentration at the membrane surface by concentration polarization is responsible for surface crystallization. Conventional methods for scale control only retard the rate of scale formation and their performances are unpredictable. On the other hand, using a MF-NF/RO hybrid system for continuous removal of crystal particles from the retentate stream appears to be effective at high recovery of permeate. When applying the MF-NF/RO hybrid system, substantial improvement in flux is observed in spiral wound module, whereas it is negligible in case of the tubular module. This is because the microfilter could only removes crystals formed in the retentate through the bulk crystallization that is the dominant fouling mechanism in the spiral wound module.     

Investigation of microbial communities on reverse osmosis membranes used for process water production.

In the present study, the diversity and the phylogenetic affiliation of bacteria in a biofouling layer on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were determined. Fresh surface water was used as a feed in a membrane-based water purification process. Total DNA was extracted from attached cells from feed spacer, RO membrane and product spacer. Universal primers were used to amplify the bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The biofilm community was analysed by 16S rRNA-gene-targeted denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and the phylogenetic affiliation was determined by sequence analyses of individual 16S rDNA clones. Using this approach, we found that five distinct bacterial genotypes (Sphingomonas, Beta proteobacterium, Flavobacterium, Nitrosomonas and Sphingobacterium) were dominant genera on surfaces of fouled RO membranes. Moreover, the finding that all five "key players" could be recovered from the cartridge filters of this RO system, which cartridge filters are positioned before the RO membrane, together with literature information where these bacteria are normally encountered, suggests that these microorganisms originate from the feed water rather than from the RO system itself, and represent the fresh water bacteria present in the feed water, despite the fact that the feed water passes an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane (pore size approximately 40 nm), which is able to remove microorganisms to a large extent.     

纳滤、反渗透工艺深度处理饮用水研究

利用纳滤和反渗透膜深度处理工艺进行长江原水水质净化中试研究,工艺流程为长江原水→混凝沉淀→沙滤→颗粒活性炭→纳滤/反渗透,比较纳滤、反渗透膜工艺对污染物特别是微量有机物苯系物、三氯乙烯及消毒副产物等的去除效果。结果表明膜工艺预处理能够有效地去除原水的浊度和部分污染物,有利于纳滤、反渗透的稳定运行。纳滤膜工艺的最佳操作压力是0.4 MPa,此压力下产水量为250 L/h,回收率为24%,SO₄^2-,Cl^-,NO₃^-和总硬度的去除率分别为91.7%,85.4%,85.2%,89.3%;采用浓缩水回流能兼顾较高的回收率和良好的去除率。2种膜工艺对苯系物与三氯乙烯的去除率均在95.7%以上;对消毒副产物也有较好的控制效果,其中大部分的削减率在63.7%以上。与反渗透膜工艺比较,纳滤膜工艺具有较低的生产成本。纳滤膜工艺净化出水中可部分保留对人体有益的矿物质,使得净化后的出水成为优质健康饮用水。     

反渗透工艺处理电厂循环冷却排污水

针对电厂循环冷却排污水浊度高 ,含盐量高的水质特点 ,采用反渗透工艺进行处理 ,出水含盐量小于 2 0mg/L ,满足锅炉预脱盐补充水的要求。介绍了反渗透工艺及其预处理工艺 ,并对该工艺处理成本和工程运行问题进行了分析     

Comparison of SAR (sodium adsorption ratio) between RO and NF processes for the reclamation of secondary effluent.

Secondary effluent reclamation and reuse has been considered as an alternative for agricultural irrigation water. Whilst all constituents in the reclaimed wastewater could affect plant growth and soil characteristics, the most important parameters for agricultural irrigation are salinity and SAR (Sodium Adsorption Ratio). Salinity affects the availability of crop water and sodium causes clay soils to disperse. Membrane technologies, especially NF (Nano-Filtration) and RO (Reverse Osmosis), have played in a key role reclaiming the secondary effluent. RO can remove monovalent and divalent cations simultaneously. However NF processes reject preferably divalent cations and most monovalent ions are allowed to pass through the NF membranes. This could make them have different SAR values for both NF and RO processes. Therefore the primary objective of this study is to examine if the SAR values of the reclaimed water could be changed while they undergo NF and RO processes. The measured SAR values of the secondary effluent, NF permeate, and RO permeate were 1.78, 4.67, and 0.72 respectively. The SAR value after NF (4.67) increased to more than twice that of the feed solution, whereas the SAR of the RO permeate decreased to 0.72. In general, the higher SAR the water has, the greater risk the soils have. Although the SAR value after NF was within the safe range, this increased SAR value will affect permeability of soil, thus limiting the reclaimed wastewater use for as agricultural irrigation water. Consequently, when the NF system is used for the reclamation of the secondary effluent, SAR has to be examined first because potentially it tends to increase the SAR value.     

Membrane bioreactor application in wastewater re-use from the effluent of Bali primary WWTP, northern Taiwan.

Two MBR pilot systems were constructed and tested in the Bali Primary WWTP. The pilot study shows that two MBR systems, i.e. the Green-MenBio system (MBR-1) and the Bio-MF system (MBR-2), can both fulfill the requirement of wastewater reclamation standard. The MBR-2 system is more economical compared with MBR-1 system. The cost of US dollars 0.10-0.16/m3 is estimated to reclaim the effluent of primary WWTP in Taiwan. The Bali Primary WWTP has the capacity of 1,320,000 cmd which is the biggest in Taiwan. The domestic wastewater of partial Taipei City and Taipei County are collected and transported to the Bali Primary WWTP. The effluent of the Bali Primary WWTP is then discharged into the ocean through two 3.8 m marine outfalls. The AO processes are installed in both MBR systems. More than 90% of the NH3-N can be removed through the AO and membrane processes. The outflow of the MBR systems (without RO) can reach the quality of COD <30 mg/l, BOD <10 mg/l, SS <5 mg/l, NH3-N <3 mg/L. The outflow of the MBR system is proposed to transport 40 km south to the Taoyuan County where four new industrial parks are to be constructed. Part of the reclaimed water is to be used on irrigation and another portion is to be sent to the industries after RO treatment.     

Survey on production quality of electrodialysis reversal and reverse osmosis on municipal wastewater desalination

Water shortage has become an emerging environmental issue. Reclamation of the effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is feasible for meeting the growth of water requirement from industries. In this study, the results of a pilot-plant setting in Futian wastewater treatment plant (Taichung, Taiwan) were presented. Two processes, sand filter - ultrafiltration - reverse osmosis (SF-UF-RO) and sand filter - electrodialysis reversal (SF-EDR), were operated in parallel to evaluate their stability and filtrate quality. It has been noticed that EDR could accept inflow with worse quality and thus required less pretreatment compared with RO. During the operation, EDR required more frequent chemical cleaning (every 3 weeks) than RO did (every 3 months). For the filtrate quality, the desalination efficiency of SF-EDR ranged from 75 to 80% in continuous operation mode, while the conductivity ranged from 100 to 120 μS/cm, with turbidity at 0.8 NTU and total organic carbon at 1.3 mg/L. SF-EDR was less efficient in desalinating the multivalent ions than SF-UF-RO was. However for the monovalent ions, the performances of the two processes were similar to each other. Noticeably, total trihalomethanes in SF-EDR filtrate was lower than that of SF-UF-RO, probably because the polarization effects formed on the concentrated side of the EDR membrane were not significant. At the end of this study, cost analysis was also conducted to compare the capital requirement of building a full-scale wastewater reclamation plant using the two processes. The results showed that using SF-EDR may cost less than using SF-UF-RO, if the users were to accept the filtrate quality of SF-EDR.     

Recent operational experiences of FILMTEC NF270 membrane in Europe

Nanofiltration (NF) is an attractive technology for potable and industrial water treatment because NF operates between ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. NF is designed to remove a high percentage of organic contaminants (humic acids, pesticides, color bodies) while passing a medium to high percentage of salt. Compared to UF membranes, the NF product water quality is significantly better; compared to comparable RO treatment systems NF systems require lower operating pressures. Due to these features, NF is increasingly used in a broad range of water treatment applications. The general applications include softening, as well as color, organics and micro-organism removal. DOW FILMTEC NF270-400 is one the most frequently used elements in water treatment and this paper presents examples of three recent NF270-400 installations in Europe. The first two plants, Eupen and Stembert, are located in Belgium and produce potable water from surface water. The third one is a Scandinavian plant which purifies groundwater for a brewery and soft drink production. The presented operation results prove NF to be a highly competitive technique for low cost water treatment.     

Design considerations for wastewater treatment by reverse osmosis.

Reverse Osmosis is finding increasing use for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters due to the growing demand for high quality water in large urban areas. The growing success of membranes in this application is related to improved process designs and improved membrane products. Key factors which have been determined to result in successful operation of large-scale plants will be discussed. Factors which play a key role in the use of RO membranes include ultra or microfiltration pretreatment, low fouling membranes, flux rate, recovery and control of fouling and scaling. In particular, high flux rates can be used when UF or MF pretreatment is used. These technologies remove most of the suspended particles that would normally cause heavy fouling of lead elements. Typically, fluxes in the range of 17-21 lmh lead to cleaning frequencies in the range of 3-4 months. By combining the use of membrane pretreatment and chloramination of the feed water through chlorine addition, two of the primary sources of RO membrane fouling can be controlled. The use of chloramine has become a proven means to control biofouling in a membrane for wastewater applications. The other significant problems for RO membranes result from organics fouling by dissolved organics and scaling due to saturation of marginally soluble salts. The former can be a significant problem for membranes, due to the strong attraction forces. To some extent, these can be mitigated by making the membrane surface more hydrophilic or changing the charge of the membrane surface. To minimize fouling, many plants are turning to low fouling membranes. Extensive studies have demonstrated that the membrane surface is hydrophilic, neutrally charged over a broad pH range, and more resistant to organic adsorption. Also, an analysis of the potential scaling issues will be reviewed. In particular, calcium phosphate has been found to be one of the key scalants that will limit RO system recovery rate. Calcium phosphate concentrations can reach high values in many wastewaters, and scaling of this compound is not often modeled in most RO projection software. Various process options will be presented to evaluate the most economic means of avoiding phosphate scaling. Finally, data from major RO wastewater treatment plants will be presented to show how the RO membranes operate under actual conditions, utilizing many of these design features. Long-term data from the 2.6 mgd Bedok demonstration Plant demonstrate that the RO membranes operate consistently on wastewater. Experiences from the 8.5 mgd (32,000 m3/day) Bedok and 10.5 mgd (40,000 m3/day) Kranji plants will also be presented. These large plants started operation in the fall of 2002 and have demonstrated an effective means to reclaim high quality water from difficult source waters, such as municipal wastewaters.     

城市雨洪多功能调蓄技术

在城市雨水排放系统中建造雨水多功能调蓄设施既可以减少雨水资源的流失,有效地利用城市雨水、削减洪峰流量、缓解城市水涝,又可以高效率地利用宝贵的土地资源,为城市创造优美的景观、改善城市生态环境。简略地论述这种设施在国外的应用情况,并以北京为例,讨论了多功能雨水调蓄措施在北京和我国其他城市的推广应用情况。     

Wastewater treatment with anaerobic membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis.

Domestic wastewater from a new city district in Stockholm has been treated by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AMBR) followed by reverse osmosis (RO). The main objectives were to study the gas production, the reduction of organic matter and nutrient recovery. The AMBR was operated at 22 degrees C (equal to the average temperature in the influent) and a hydraulic retention time of 0.6 d. The results show that the reduction of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus over the AMBR was approximately 92, 9 and 9%, respectively. A stable gas production was registered throughout the evaluation period. The overall removal efficiency, i.e. including the RO, was >99% for TOC, >91% for Kj-N and about 99% for P. Adding a reverse osmosis (RO) unit to the AMBR makes it possible to produce a concentrated, nutrient rich product well suited for agricultural use. The quality of the concentrate is, in terms of nutrient concentration and heavy metal content, similar to source separated human urine, i.e. nitrogen content about 3 g N/L and <2 mg Cd/kg P. However, addition of acid is required to prevent precipitation/fouling of the RO. The total electricity use for operation for the system, including the RO-unit, is estimated to be 3-6 kWh/m3.     

连续微滤应用于印染废水反渗透预处理的研究

采用连续微滤(CMF)作为反渗透(RO)的预处理工艺,对印染废水二级生化出水进行深度处理。结果表明:CMF处理系统运行稳定,对色度、膜污染指数值的去除率均达到RO系统进水的要求。RO系统对盐度的去除率达到98%以上,出水水质优于自来水,各项水质指标满足印染工艺回用的要求。     

UF-RO组合工艺处理循环冷却排污水的研究

在电力循环冷却排污水回用系统中,采用UF-RO组合工艺对循环排污水进行去浊除盐.通过现场试验,考察了超滤在循环冷却排污水回用中作为反渗透预处理的可行性;在工程实践中确定了系统实际运行工艺参数并对运行成本进行了分析.该工艺为循环冷却排污水的再利用开辟了一条新途径,既节约了水资源,又减少了环境污染.     

Use of fouling resistant nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes for dyeing wastewater effluent treatment.

Dyeing wastewater was post-treated by using nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. To reduce membrane fouling, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with a neutral charge was coated on NF and RO membranes. The effect of surface charge and surface roughness on membrane fouling was investigated. Dyeing wastewater was pre-treated by using coagulation, activated sludge process, and MF process to investigate the effect of the pre-treatment on the membrane fouling. It is demonstrated that the extent of fouling is significantly influenced by the surface roughness and the surface charge on the NF and RO membranes. A membrane with a smooth and neutral surface was fouled less. The pre-treatment was essential for avoiding NF and RO membranes fouling. The quality of the final permeate was acceptable for water reuse.