The widespread adoption of submerged hollow fibre ultrafiltration (UF) for drinking water treatment is currently hindered by the complexity and cost of these membrane systems, especially in small/remote communities. Most of the complexity is associated with auxiliary fouling control measures, which include backwashing, air sparging and chemical cleaning. Recent studies have demonstrated that su...

The impact of membrane fouling by natural organic matter (NOM) on the behavior of micropollutants during ultrafiltration (UF) was investigated. Batch experiments with radioactively labeled estradiol and ibuprofen in the presence of NOM model compounds (alginate, Nordic aquatic and Aldrich humic acid) were performed using a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic membrane. The results indicate that the im...

Fouling by natural organic matter like humic substances is one of the major factors limiting the application of microporous membranes for water production. The charge of the pore surface of membrane, which can be characterized by the streaming potential(SP) measurement as the apparent zeta potential ζ obs, has a large effect on its fouling performance. However the relationship between the fouli...

Membrane fouling control is of paramount importance for sustainable operation of membranebased drinking water treatment processes. Natural organic matter (NOM) is considered as the major membrane foulant and therefore its characterization is important for implementing fouling control strategies. This study proposes a fluorescence-based modeling approach for estimating and predicting the fouling...

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) can produce high-quality effluents through effective solid-liquid separation using microfiltration. During the operation of the membrane bioreactor system, membrane fouling is one of the main problems. Several models have been proposed to understand the mechanisms of fouling of the membrane. Usually, cake formation and pore blocking are found to be the main...

This study assessed the issue of membrane fouling in a Hybrid Membrane Process (HMP) due to the export of powdered activated carbon (PAC) fines from a pretreatment contactor. Two parallel pilot-scale ceramic and polymeric membranes were studied. Reversible and irreversible foulings were measured following three cleaning procedures: Physical backwashing (BW), chemically enhanced backwashing (CEB...

This paper describes the characterization and evaluation of various RO/NF membranes for the treatment of seasonally brackish surface water with high organic contents (TOC ≈21 mg/L). Twenty commercially available RO and NF membranes were initially evaluated by performing controlled bench-scale flat-sheet tests and surface characterization. Based on the results, four low pressure RO membranes wer...

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have several advantages such as high-quality effluent, small footprint and less sludge production over conventional activated sludge systems, and are therefore considered to be a promising technology for future wastewater treatment. For wider use of MBRs, however, high-energy consumption in the operation of MBRs, mainly attributed to membrane fouling, needs to be add...

Bivalve aquaculture introduces high densities of farmed organisms to the natural environment with potential consequences on a number of ecosystem processes, including modification of nutrient fluxes (e.g. NH4, NOX, PO4, and Si(OH)4) and benthic respiration, and may impact benthic communities. Infaunal clam culture may influence the environment due to the clams themselves [their metabolic proces...

Nanofiltration (NF) is a compact process that has potential for removing organic and inorganic pollutants for drinking water. In this study, arious NF membranes for surface water treatment were compared using a batch-stirred cell and crossflow equipment in terms of solute rejection nd membrane flux. The rejection of natural organic matter (NOM) was closely related to ion rejection and membrane ...