The presence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in ambient water, drinking water and reclaim/reuse water has garnered growing regulatory and pubic concern. An oxido-reductase enzyme, laccase, shows promise in providing more effective treatment than advanced oxidation and biological degradation....

This research focuses on a versatile new platform of membrane surface treatments to reduce fouling in ultrafiltration, microfiltration, nanofiltration, and reverse osmosis membranes. The new methodology may be applied to existing membranes after manufacture and installation as well as to membranes during their manufacturing process....

The presentation will focus on the use of interstage processes to maixmize water recovery (and thereby minimize the volume of concentrate) in inland brackish water desalination. Two methodologies will be discussed: electrodialysis and a three-stage process of antiscalant oxidation, precipitation, and solid/liquid separation....

A laboratory investigation of electrodialysis shows that ED is technically feasible of treating brackish water RO concentrate and may prove to be a viable treatment option for minimizing brine production....

This presentation introduced the results of research regarding water recovery from silica-saturated RO concentrate. Our results indicated that we can get up to 85% of the water back from the concentrate by using a seawater RO system with appropriate pH control and antiscalant addition. This information is of significance to water plant operators be...

The presence of calcium sulfate in groundwater limits the degree to which water can be recovered by reverse osmosis. The ZDD (Zero Discharge Desalination) technology removes calcium sulfate as a solid that has potential commercial value. In the ZDD process, RO concentrate is treated by an electrodialysis (ED) process called EDM (electrodialysis met...

Reverse osmosis (RO) membrane desalination may be employed as a technically feasible treatment process for brackish water (BW) sources, but the product recovery ratio for inland BWRO applications is typically from 75-90%. The economic and environmental costs of concentrate disposal significantly limit the development of inland RO applications. Thus...

Promoting membrane technology through quantitative risk assessment for public health. Risk assessment of cryptosporidium in drinking water and membrane removal vs conventional treatment. Risk assessment of TTHMs removal from drinking water and number of cancer cases prevented per one million consumers....

Reverse osmosis concentrate volume reduction scenarios and associated challenges for inland desalting plants. Economic evaluation in cost vs. recovery. Zero liquid discharge (ZLD) discussion....

Zero discharge desalination (ZDD) update from the University of Texas, El Paso. Explanation of electro dialysis (ED) vs. electro dialysis metathesis (EDM). EDM is the heart of the ZDD process in dealing with difficult Tularosa Basin (New Mexico) ground water that contains gypsum CaSO4....

Concentration of supersaturated brackish reverse osmosis (BRO) concentrate with electro dialysis (ED) research study by the University of Texas, El Paso. Simulated system recoveries were improved from 75-80% to 88-94% adding ED to the treat the concentrate....

hollow-fiber MF filtration systems...

Ceramic membranes were recently approved for use in municipal water treatment plants in Colorado, California, and Texas (AWWA, 2011). While their use for drinking water applications is novel in the United States, they have been used in Japan and France for over a decade. Ceramic membranes already hold promise in terms of their extreme durability an...

Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination may be used for desalination of brackish and saline waters, but the product water may have low concentrations of hardness and alkalinity, which may corrode infrastructure. Addition of pH, hardness, and alkalinity may be required to meet potable water guidelines. Upflow calcite contactors may be used instead of li...

This paper highlights the challenges and potential advantages of Point of Use filtration systems in regions of the works where clean potable water is not readily available. This study considers two areas in Texas, and investigates point of use filtration systems. The objectives of this research are to (1) assess the region?s current water source an...

This study investigates the accuracy of RO membrane manufacturer's performance prediction software with respect to TDS rejection and feed pressure. Six commercial softwares were investigated and compared with real-world performance from facilities located in Texas, Florida, Arizona, Maryland, Kentucky, and Kansas. Preliminary conclusions indicate t...

In forward osmosis applications the cellulose acetate (CA) membrane offers the best performance but carries the limitation of not tolerating a basic feed water. This characteristic eliminates the CA membrane from use with the ammonia-carbon dioxide (NH3-CO2) draw solution. Treatment of conventional reverse osmosis membrane with polydopamine improve...

This paper discusses research aimed at reducing cation exchange in Forward osmosis membranes. The effect of pH and modifying the FO membrane are reported....

This paper describes the Zero Discharge Desalination design process and optimization done at the University of Texas at El Paso, as well as plans for pilot testing in Honduras in 2016. The target was to produce 250 liters of drinking water with less than 600 mg/L total dissolved solids (TDS) and 8000 liters of irrigation water with no more than 55...

One of the largest uses of water in the United States and the world is for cooling systems in power generation. Closed-cycle cooling towers produce a concentrated water stream (called blowdown) that is similar to the concentrate from a reverse osmosis system. This project was directed toward cost-effectively recovering 70% to 90 persent of the wate...

This project will provide 2,000 gallons per day of clean drinking water for the residents of Po Plume, Haiti, a community of about 500 people with no electricity whose only water source is brackish. The water treatment consists of a solar-powered Reverse-Osmosis (RO) system. A telemetry system will enable us to monitor the solar system and monitor...

Researchers at UTEP partnered with El Paso Water (EPW) to develop the high-recovery concentrate enhanced-recovery reverse osmosis (CERRO) process. Implementation of full-scale CERRO units at well sites in El Paso have resulted in 70-75% recovery of RO concentrate with a specific energy consumption of 1.23 kWh/m? (4.6 kWh/kgal) and total estimated ...

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