Development of a bench-scale immersed ultrafiltration apparatus for coagulation pretreatment experiments

Area of Science:

• Environmental Engineering
• Water Treatment Technologies
• Membrane Filtration

Background:

• Conventional water treatment assessments often involve multiple steps and manual transfers.
• Standardized bench-scale methods are needed for evaluating integrated water treatment processes, such as coagulation followed by ultrafiltration.
• Assessing the performance of immersed ultrafiltration (UF) systems requires controlled laboratory conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a standardized bench-scale apparatus and procedures for immersed ultrafiltration (UF) membrane systems.
• To evaluate integrated process designs, specifically coagulation-UF, under controlled laboratory conditions.
• To compare the performance of a novel integrated test apparatus with conventional methods.

Main Methods:

• Development of the Immersed Ultrafiltration Enhanced Coagulation (IUEC) apparatus, featuring a hollow-fiber UF module in a single-compartment tank with aeration mixing.
• Conducting bench-scale experiments using alum on low turbidity surface water.
• Comparing water quality data (natural organic matter removal, zeta-potential) from the IUEC system against a conventional mechanically-mixed process and standard jar tests.

Main Results:

• The IUEC apparatus was successfully designed and implemented for evaluating integrated coagulation-UF processes.
• Experiments demonstrated the capability of the IUEC system to assess water quality parameters effectively.
• Water quality data obtained from the IUEC apparatus were found to be congruent with data from conventional jar tests and mechanically-mixed processes.

Conclusions:

• The single-compartment IUEC apparatus provides a standardized and effective method for bench-scale evaluation of immersed UF systems and integrated processes.
• The IUEC system offers a reliable alternative to conventional methods, simplifying the assessment of water treatment designs.
• This standardized approach facilitates controlled laboratory assessments of coagulation-UF performance, aiding in process design and optimization.