Impact of ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration on ceramic membrane fouling

Khaled Ibn Abdul Hamid; Peter Sanciolo; Stephen Gray; Mikel Duke; Shobha Muthukumaran

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2017.09.012

Impact of ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration on ceramic membrane fouling

Water Res. 2017 Dec 1:126:308-318. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.09.012. Epub 2017 Sep 5.

Authors

Khaled Ibn Abdul Hamid¹, Peter Sanciolo², Stephen Gray³, Mikel Duke⁴, Shobha Muthukumaran⁵

Affiliations

¹ College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia; Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia. Electronic address: khaled.ibnabdulhamid@live.vu.edu.au.
² College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia; Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia. Electronic address: peter.sanciolo@vu.edu.au.
³ College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia; Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia. Electronic address: stephen.gray@vu.edu.au.
⁴ College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia; Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia. Electronic address: mikel.duke@vu.edu.au.
⁵ College of Engineering and Science, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia; Institute for Sustainability and Innovation, Victoria University, PO Box 14428, Melbourne, VIC 8001, Australia. Electronic address: shobha.muthukumaran@vu.edu.au.

PMID: 28965033
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2017.09.012

Abstract

Ozone pre-treatment (ozonation, ozonisation) and biological activated carbon (BAC) filtration pre-treatment for the ceramic microfiltration (CMF) treatment of secondary effluent (SE) were studied. Ozone pre-treatment was found to result in higher overall removal of UV absorbance (UVA₂₅₄) and colour, and higher permeability than BAC pre-treatment or the combined use of ozone and BAC (O3+BAC) pre-treatment. The overall removal of colour and UVA₂₅₄ by ceramic filtration of the ozone pre-treated water was 97% and 63% respectively, compared to 86% and 48% respectively for BAC pre-treatment and 29% and 6% respectively for the untreated water. Ozone pre-treatment, however, was not effective in removal of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The permeability of the ozone pre-treated water through the ceramic membrane was found to decrease to 50% of the original value after 200 min of operation, compared to approximately 10% of the original value for the BAC pre-treated, O3+BAC pre-treated water and the untreated water. The higher permeability of the ozone pre-treated water was attributed to the excellent removal of biopolymer particles (100%) and high removal of humic substances (84%). The inclusion of a BAC stage between ozone pre-treatment and ceramic filtration was detrimental. The O3+BAC+CMF process was found to yield higher biopolymer removal (96%), lower humic substance (HS) component removal (66%) and lower normalized permeability (0.1) after 200 min of operation than the O3+CMF process (86%, 84% and 0.5 respectively). This was tentatively attributed to the chemical oxidation effect of ozone on the BAC biofilm and adsorbed components, leading to the generation of foulants that are not generated in the O3+CMF process. This study demonstrated the potential of ozone pre-treatment for reducing organic fouling and thus improving flux for the CMF of SE compared to O3+BAC pre-treatment.

Keywords: BAC filtration; Biopolymers; Ceramic membrane; Humic substances; Ozonation; Secondary effluent.

Publication types

Evaluation Study

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Biopolymers
Ceramics
Charcoal*
Filtration*
Humic Substances
Membranes, Artificial*
Ozone*
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Water Purification*

Substances

Biopolymers
Humic Substances
Membranes, Artificial
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Charcoal
Ozone