Evaluating the efficiency of hollow fiber membrane use in wash water treatment

Summary

Urban development dictates the necessity of increasing the output of water treatment facilities which requires the maximum operation of all the pumping filtration stations. In this respect reusing treated wash water for utility and drinking purposes will provide for eliminating water shortage and reducing environmental pressure on water bodies. The task of increasing the capacity of pumping filtration station No. 2 in Samara is very urgent. River water purification is carried out following the single-stage scheme in contact clarifiers. In view of the specific features of the clarification process such scheme does not allow increasing the station capacity by optimization of filtering media selection. The use of baromembrane processes – microfiltration and ultrafiltration – can be an alternative that will provide for the sustainable parameters of the treatment quality. These methods find fairly wide use in river water treatment at small-scale facilities either as independent processes or as part of comprehensive process solutions. The process of wash water of pumping filtration station No. 2 purification that operated according to the single-stage flow scheme with the use of hollow fiber membrane was studied. The main trends and possibilities of retrofitting the new process flow scheme were considered. The results of preliminary testing a pilot unit on the basis of the hollow fiber membrane element are given. The evaluation of the received filtrate quality proves its possible use for utility and drinking purposes. The membrane unit concentrate in significantly less amount can be discharged to the wastewater treatment facilities or processed to separate and dewater the sludge.

Key words

water treatment , membrane , ultrafiltration , pumping-filtration station , microfiltration , wash water , pilot plant