The effect of pretreatment to ultrafiltration of biologically treated sewage effluent: a detailed effluent organic matter (EfOM) characterization

Water Res. 2004 Apr;38(7):1933-9. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2004.01.015.

Abstract

Ultrafiltration alone can remove only a portion of the effluent organic matter (EfOM) from biologically treated sewage effluent (BTSE). Use of pretreatment not only improves the EfOM removal but also reduces the membrane fouling. In this research, NTR 7410 ultrafiltration membrane was employed to remove EfOM from BTSE. Different pretreatments namely FeCl(3) flocculation and powder activated carbon adsorption were evaluated. The highest removal of organic matter was observed when flocculation followed by adsorption was used as pretreatment. The flocculation and adsorption removed 68.5% and 71.4% of hydrophobic organics, respectively. The molecular weight (MW) of the EfOM in BTSE ranged from 300 to about 400000 Da. After the flocculation pretreatment, the majority of large MW organic matter was removed. The pretreatment of the flocculation followed by adsorption led to very high removal of both small and large organic matter. Further, this pretreatment led to practically no filtration flux decline.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Filtration
  • Flocculation
  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Molecular Weight
  • Organic Chemicals / isolation & purification
  • Particle Size
  • Sewage / chemistry*
  • Waste Disposal, Fluid / methods*
  • Water Pollutants / isolation & purification*
  • Water Purification / methods*

Substances

  • Membranes, Artificial
  • Organic Chemicals
  • Sewage
  • Water Pollutants