Long-term fouling evolution of polyvinyl chloride ultrafiltration membranes in a hybrid short-length sedimentation/ ultrafiltration process for drinking water production

The high flux ultrafiltration hollow fibre membrane (HFCA) for drinking water production was developed and the membrane performance was evaluated by long-term ultrafiltration testing with river water. The hollow fibre membrane was made of cellulose acetate (CA) and has a highly porous structure with a very thin dense layer on the internal surface of the membrane. The ultrafiltration flux of the HFCA membrane was compared with that of the conventional CA membrane without such a highly asymmetric structure. The flux for the HFCA membrane was almost twice as high as that for the conventional one. The performance of the conventional CA membrane was also compared with that of membranes with different materials, namely polyethersulfone (PES) and polyacrylonitrile (PAN). The result showed much higher flux for the CA membrane, indicating that the fouling can be effectively controlled by using the membrane with hydrophilic and negatively charged properties. It was shown that the high flux for the HFCA membrane was due to characteristics of both membrane material and porous membrane structure. The pilot plant testing was carried out to examine the performance in the long term operation, and confirmed the high performance of the HFCA membrane for the application of drinking water treatment.

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Climate change and drinking water production in The Netherlands: a flexible approach

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2005.0104 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 51 (5) ◽

pp. 37-44 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

T.A.B. Ramaker ◽

A.F.M. Meuleman ◽

L. Bernhardi ◽

G. Cirkel

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Drinking Water ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Salt Water ◽

Water System ◽

Water Systems ◽

Salt Water Intrusion ◽

Water Production ◽

Drinking Water Production

Climate change increases water system dynamics through temperature changes, changes in precipitation patterns, evaporation, water quality and water storage in ice packs. Water system dependent economical stakeholders, such as drinking water companies in The Netherlands, have to cope with consequences of climate change, e.g. floods and water shortages in river systems, upconing brackish ground water, salt water intrusion, increasing peak demands and microbiological activity. In the past decades, however, both water systems and drinking water production have become more and more inflexible; water systems have been heavily regulated and the drinking water supply has grown into an inflexible, but cheap and reliable, system. Flexibility and adaptivity are solutions to overcome climate change related consequences. Flexible adaptive strategies for drinking water production comprise new sources for drinking water production, application of storage concepts in the short term, and a redesign of large centralised systems, including flexible treatment plants, in the long term. Transition to flexible concepts will take decades because investment depreciation periods of assets are long. This implies that long-term strategies within an indicated time path have to be developed. These strategies must be based on thorough knowledge of current assets to seize opportunities for change.

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Ultrafiltration membranes for drinking-water production from low-quality surface water: A case study in Spain

Membrane Water Treatment ◽

10.12989/mwt.2015.6.1.077 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

pp. 77-94 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Fatima Rojas-Serrano ◽

Rocio Alvarez-Arroyo ◽

Jorge I. Perez ◽

Fidel Plaza ◽

Gloria Garralon ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Surface Water ◽

Water Production ◽

Ultrafiltration Membranes ◽

Drinking Water Production ◽

Quality Surface

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IntegTa: a procedure for integrative management of dammed raw water reservoirs for drinking water production and their lower reaches

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2010.186 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 10 (5) ◽

pp. 783-792 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

I. Slavik ◽

W. Uhl ◽

J. Völker ◽

H. Lohr ◽

M. Funke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Quality ◽

Drinking Water ◽

Flood Control ◽

Reservoir Management ◽

Water Production ◽

Raw Water ◽

Water Reservoirs ◽

Drinking Water Production ◽

The Impact

Dammed water reservoirs for drinking water production with their catchment areas and rivers downstream represent dynamic systems that change constantly and are subject to many influences. An optimized management considering and weighing up the various demands on raw water reservoirs (long-term storage for drinking water supply, flood control, ecological state of the rivers downstream, energy production, nature conservation and recreational uses) against each other is therefore very difficult. Thus, an optimal reservoir management has to take into account scenarios of possibly occurring external influences and to permit predictions of prospective raw water qualities, respectively. Furthermore, the impact of short and long term changes in raw water quality on subordinate processes should be considered. This approach was followed in the work presented here, as there currently is no tool available to predict and evaluate the impacts of raw water reservoir management strategies integratively. The strategy supported by the newly developed decision support procedure takes into account all aspects from water quality, flood control and drinking water treatment to environmental quality downstream the reservoir. Furthermore, possible extreme events or changes of boundary conditions (e.g. climate change) can be considered.

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Coagulation/flocculation/ultrafiltration for natural organic matter removal in drinking water production

Water Science & Technology Water Supply ◽

10.2166/ws.2004.0111 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 4 (5-6) ◽

pp. 215-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

A.R. Costa ◽

M.N. de Pinho

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Natural Organic Matter ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Membrane Filtration ◽

Membrane Surface ◽

Water Production ◽

Cellulose Acetate Membranes ◽

Wide Range ◽

Drinking Water Production

Membrane fouling by natural organic matter (NOM), namely by humic substances (HS), is a major problem in water treatment for drinking water production using membrane processes. Membrane fouling is dependent on membrane morphology like pore size and on water characteristics namely NOM nature. This work addresses the evaluation of the efficiency of ultrafiltration (UF) and Coagulation/Flocculation/UF performance in terms of permeation fluxes and HS removal, of the water from Tagus River (Valada). The operation of coagulation with chitosan was evaluated as a pretreatment for minimization of membrane fouling. UF experiments were carried out in flat cells of 13.2×10−4 m2 of membrane surface area and at transmembrane pressures from 1 to 4 bar. Five cellulose acetate membranes were laboratory made to cover a wide range of molecular weight cut-off (MWCO): 2,300, 11,000, 28,000, 60,000 and 75,000 Da. Severe fouling is observed for the membranes with the highest cut-off. In the permeation experiments of raw water, coagulation prior to membrane filtration led to a significant improvement of the permeation performance of the membranes with the highest MWCO due to the particles and colloidal matter removal.

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