Using a membrane bioreactor/reverse osmosis system for indirect potable reuse

2001 ◽  
Vol 1 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 303-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lozier ◽  
A. Fernandez

The City of McAllen, Texas, with the assistance of CH2M HILL, has pilot tested an integrated membrane bioreactor (MBR)/reverse osmosis (RO) treatment train to reclaim municipal wastewater to a quality suitable for use as a new drinking water supply in the process called indirect potable reuse. Previous testing by the City (Phase 1) demonstrated the applicability and cost of microfiltration (Memcor and ZeeWeed systems) to enhance the quality of secondary effluent for subsequent treatment by RO and the feasibility of a membrane bioreactor system (ZenoGem) to produce RO feedwater directly from minimally processed sewage. Phase 2 testing, reported on in this paper, is designed to demonstrate reliable operation of MBR/RO treatment for processing screened, degritted sewage and that the effluent from such a train can meet all federal primary and State secondary drinking water regulations and comply with anticipated State requirements for indirect potable reuse. Results show the ZenoGem process to be reliable, require minimal operator attention and maintenance, produce an effluent that can be processed by RO with little fouling and that easily exceeds the City's current effluent discharge requirements relative to BOD, TSS and ammonia. The ZenoGem permeate quality exceeds RO feedwater criteria for turbidity and silt density index and RO system performance confirms minimal membrane fouling by particles. However, the high calcium hardness and phosphate levels in the City's wastewater (and ZenoGem permeate) caused mineral precipitation within the RO system when operated at higher recoveries. Precipitation can be controlled, however, by increased acidification of the RO feedwater.

2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 149-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Lozier

A pilot study was conducted at McAllen, Texas to evaluate two microfiltration technologies, Memcor and ZeeWeed, to treat secondary effluent from the city of McAllen south WWTP. The objectives of the study were to compare the ability of Memcor and ZeeWeed to pretreat secondary effluent for subsequent processing by RO and to evaluate the ability of the ZenoGem membrane bioreactor process to directly treat screened, de-gritted wastewater to a quality suitable for direct processing by RO. The results showed both Memcor and ZeeWeed to be competitive in their ability to produce a high quality filtrate from secondary effluent. The results also indicated that the ZenoGem process is capable of producing a filtrate suitable for RO treatment while meeting the City's current wastewater effluent discharge requirements. Additionally, the ZenoGem treated McAllen's raw wastewater to a quality comparable to the city's existing WWTP effluent.


2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (5) ◽  
pp. 1157-1163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Lozier ◽  
Ken Ortega

The City of Oxnard in California is implementing a strategic water resources program known as the Groundwater Recovery Enhancement and Treatment (GREAT) program, which includes an Advanced Water Purification Facility (AWPF) that will use a major portion of the secondary effluent from the City's existing Water Pollution Control Facility to produce high-quality treated water to be used for irrigation of edible food crops, landscape irrigation, injection into the groundwater basin to form a barrier to seawater intrusion, and other industrial uses. The AWPF, currently under design by CH2M HILL, will employ a multiple-barrier treatment train consisting of microfiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultravioletlightbased advanced oxidation processes to purify the secondary effluent to conform to California Department of Public Health Title 22 Recycled Water Criteria for groundwater recharge. The AWPF, which will have initial and build-out capacities of ca. 24,000 and ca 95,000 m3/day, respectively, was limited to a 1.8-hectare site, with 0.4 hectares dedicated to a Visitor's Center and administration building. Further, the depth below grade and height of the AWPF's structures were constrained because of the high groundwater table at the site, the high cost of excavation and dewatering, and local codes. To accommodate these various restrictions, an innovative design approach has been developed. This paper summarizes the design constraints and innovative solutions for the design of the AWPF.


2013 ◽  
Vol 838-841 ◽  
pp. 2712-2716
Author(s):  
Yong Tu ◽  
Yong Gang Bai ◽  
Yong Chen ◽  
Wei Jing Liu ◽  
Jun Xu ◽  
...  

The research on ultrafiltration membrane assisted by powdered zeolite for the treatment of secondary effluent from a municipal wastewater treatment plant was studied. The results show that membrane fouling rate is reduced by pre-coating the ultrafiltration membrane with powdered zeolite, and the treatment performance of secondary effluent is enhanced. UV-vis, three-dimensional excitation emission matrix (3D-EEM) fluorescence spectra and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images for ultrafiltration were also discussed.


2006 ◽  
Vol 53 (7) ◽  
pp. 17-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Watanabe ◽  
K. Kimura

This paper deals with the performance of hybrid membrane bioreactor (MBR) combining the precoagulation/sedimentation and membrane bioreactor. The hybrid MBR not only produces the treated water with excellent permeate quality but also shows much lower membrane fouling than the conventional MBR. It may come from its extremely low F/M ratio to maintain the low viscosity even in the high MLSS concentration range of about 20,000 mg/L. Some results of microbial community analysis in MBRs was conducted to demonstrate the other reason for its lower membrane fouling. Hybrid MBR has a high potential to be used for the recycling use of the municipal wastewater. Coagulated sludge produced in the hybrid MBR is a promising phosphorus resource. This paper also contains a recent progress of phosphorus recovery technology, which uses a new phosphoric acids absorbent, i.e. the hexagonal mesostructured zirconium sulfate (ZS). The ZS has the extremely high adsorption capacity of phosphoric acids through anion exchange. The adsorbed phosphoric acids are released from the ZS in a high pH range of about 13.


2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 1994-1999 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Umar ◽  
Felicity Roddick ◽  
Linhua Fan

The UVC/H2O2 process was studied at laboratory scale for the treatment of one moderate (conductivity ∼8 mS/cm) and two high salinity (∼23 mS/cm) municipal wastewater reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) samples with varying organic and inorganic characteristics. The process efficiency was characterized in terms of reduction of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), chemical oxygen demand (COD), colour and absorbance at 254 nm (A254), and the improvement of biodegradability. The reduction of colour and A254 was significantly greater than for DOC and COD for all samples due to the greater breakdown of humic compounds, as confirmed by fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectra. Fairly small differences in the reduction of DOC (26–38%) and COD (25–37%) were observed for all samples, suggesting that the salinity of the ROC did not have a significant impact on the UVC/H2O2 treatment under the test conditions. The biodegradability of the treated ROC samples improved markedly (approximately 2-fold) after 60 min UVC/H2O2 treatment. This study indicates the potential of UVC/H2O2 treatment followed by biological processes for treating high-salinity concentrate, and the robustness of the process where the characteristics of the secondary effluent (influent to RO) and thus resultant ROC vary significantly.


2013 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 1021-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Yang ◽  
W. Syed ◽  
H. Zhou

This study compared the performance between membrane-coupled moving bed biofilm reactor (M-MBBR) and a conventional membrane bioreactor (MBR) in parallel. Extensive tests were conducted in three pilot-scale experimental units over 6 months. Emphasis was placed on the factors that would affect the performance of membrane filtration. The results showed that the concentrations of soluble microbial product (SMP), colloidal total organic carbon and transparent exopolymer particles in the M-MBBR systems were not significantly different from those in the control MBR system. However, the fouling rates were much higher in the M-MBBR systems as compared to the conventional MBR systems. This indicates membrane fouling potential was related not only to the concentration of SMP, but also to their sources and characteristics. The addition of polyaluminum chloride could reduce the fouling rate of the moving bed biofilm reactor unit by 56.4–84.5% at various membrane fluxes.


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