This presentation Provides an overview of NF/RO and helps with an understanding of their application concepts. It provides logical selection process by answering the fundamental questions about when NF/RO can, should and must be used. It also helps with identification of critical issues (e.g., cost, fouling, residuals, risks and regulations) for...

This presentation describes what Reverse Osmosis is and gives detailed overview of construction of spiral wound elements, including permeate spacer and anti-telescoping device. It also describes operating limitations such as maximum applied pressure, maximum chlorine concentration/tolerance, maximum operating temperature, allowable feedwater pH r...

This paper provides a brief History of RO/NFand explains the basics Concepts of Osmosis and RO membrane separation mechanism. It also provides information about membrane selection, average Flux estimate, membrane area required/number of membranes and use of computer Projections to determine the system?s needs....

This presentation provides an overview of why pretreatment and post treatment are needed for RO and describes how to select them. It covers the advantages, including the smaller footprint, consistent water quality, reduced chemical cost; as well as disadvantages of utilizing UF as RO pretreatment. It also describes the critical parameters that sho...

This presentation covers operation and troubleshooting of Spiral Wound RO elements. It covers operational parameters including system operations, data collection, data normalization and membrane life expectancy. When fouling occurs, systematic process needs to be followed to determine causes and Implement corrective actions. Membrane autopsy prov...

This presentation provides an overview of some of the challenges associate with RO Concentrate Management. It elaborates on the relationship between recovery and brine concentration and elaborates on how non-RO options have been selected only because of lack of adequate concentrate management strategies. A list of management options as well as an ...

This presentation provides an overview of Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) project for a Pilot Project in Colorado. The presentation includes some basic concepts and focuses on the Colorado examples illustrating regulatory and technical options and constraints....

This presentation focuses on minimization of RO concentrate volume and disposal costs. An overview of sources of membrane scaling is provided and potential pre-treatment and post-treatment options are discussed to minimize concentrate and recover additional product water. This study concludes that it is feasible to increase recovery to greater t...

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of selecting treatment and management schemes for inland brine concentrate. It elaborates that implementing inland desalination is very complicated and as a minimum, three concepts of concentrate treatment technologies; concentrate disposal options and concentrate management strategies should be ...

This presentation discusses utilization of wetlands for concentrate management. It advocates that wetlands are Innovative, green and inexpensive with many positive benefits to society and the environment. Results of a pilot project are promising as some metals reductions are observed. There are suggestions to continue operating the pilot projec...

This presentation provides an overview of concentrate management at Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station. It covers regulatory issues related to water and air and summarizes where water and air rules collide and the implications of these overlapping regulations related to treatment of cooling water. The study concludes that influent TDS trends m...

This presentation provides an overview of submerged Membrane (MF/UF) Filtration system characteristics. Some of the topics included are membrane filtration removal characteristics, membrane fiber and module assembly, membrane theory and practices, and submerged systems operational considerations. It also covers backwashing of membranes (reverse ...

This presentation provides a comprehensive overview of pressurized membrane (MF/UF) filtration system characteristics. Definitions, basic principles, membrane configurations, membrane materials, modules, and regulatory requirements are summarized. In the regulatory requirements section, discussion of various removal credit considerations and chall...

This presentation provides an overview of ceramic membrane filtration system. It discusses similarities and differences between Ceramic and Polymeric micro filtration systems. They both provides excellent filtration, low turbidity and greater than 4-log giardia and crypto removal. Ceramic membranes have a longer life and have higher chemical tole...

This presentation covers main characteristics of RO/NF membrane systems. It provides an overview of NF/RO basic theories; system Components, typical process energy use, energy recovery system, operating parameters and performance monitoring. It also provides description of four main types of energy recovery devices used for these systems....

This presentation provides an overview of membrane cleaning and system integrity testing. It describes how both MF/UF and RO membranes require cleaning to restore lost performance. It explains when to clean; what chemicals to use; and key elements of cleaning operations. This paper emphasize that adequate pretreatment and proper operation will go...

This presentation covers MF/UF water quality, performance, and applications. It provides an overview of the basic principles of membrane filtration, typical MF/UF treatment objectives and elaborates on the differences between pressurized and submerged systems....

This presentation provides an overview of membrane system design concepts. It covers basic design equations, site-specific issues, and membrane specific issues. Suggestions are made related to process design approach, variability in source water quality and treated water demand. Ancillary systems consisting of: feed systems, backwash systems, c...

This presentation provides an overview of low pressure membrane pilot testing. It describes what pilot testing is, and what types of factors including: goals, duration, protocol, performance monitoring and data analysis should be considered. Significance of determining optimal operating conditions and establishing backwash frequency, duration and...

This presentation provides an overview of pre-treatment strategies for the West Basin Municipal Water District. At this district, recycling/reuse of secondary effluent has been taking place since 1995. The typical pre-treatment processes are described and a list of process challenges and regulatory constraints are presented....

This presentation provides an overview of water reuse and Membrane Bioreactors (MBR). It provides a brief history of the MBR process and elaborates on the advantages of this technology. It also provides an overview of water reuse options in combination with wastewater that is treated by MBR...

This presentation provides an overview of some of the key procurement terms and conditions from a vendor's perspective. It goes over the key contract terms: liquidated damages, indemnity, limitation of liability, warranty and methods to accelerate the terms and negotiation of conditions....

This presentation just provides a list of presenters for RO/NF Computer Modeling. The list (but no details) include Design Cases Seawater (surface water) RO; Brackish groundwater RO; Nanofiltration/membrane softening of well water; and Water reuse (Tertiary Treatment) with RO...

This presentation provides information about Brackish RO Computer Modeling by providing a case study of a 2.0 MGD Municipal potable water produced from ground water. it provides a list of key parameters for feed and permeate and presents a comparison of projected vs. actual (key) operating data...

The presentation overs RO Design for treatment of brackish groundwater for Bonita Springs Utilities in Florida. It provides the schematics of both lime softening and RO process at the plant. Some of the detailed design data is included in the presentation....

This presentation provides an overview of the water treatment process for Palm Beach City in Florida. The Process Flow Diagram is provided. The objective of this membrane Softening plant is to reduce Hardness, TOC and Color. The presentation also provides characteristics of the raw water, finished water and concentrate....

This presentation discusses Computer Aided Design (CAD) of a Nanofiltration Membrane System for Vero Beach, Florida. It provides a list of the NF System Design Criteria including the Plant Capacity, Permeate Capacity per Train, Design Recovery per Train and Maximum Transmembrane Pressure Loss. It also provides some performance evaluation resul...

This presentation briefly discusses Singapore?s Waste Water Reclamation and generation of ?NEWater? by utilizing Microfiltration and Reverse Osmosis. It also indicates that Singapore imports water from Malaysia....

Seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plants require complicated design, construction, and operation procedures because they generally involve various different systems such as intake, pretreatment, RO membranes, post-treatment, and brine outfall/management. Although several SWRO desalination plants have been constructed and operated in Sout...

Lake Simcoe is the second largest lake in Southern Ontario, Canada and plays an important role in the surrounding area. The 20.1 MGD Barrie Water Pollution Control Centre (WPCC), discharges to Lake Simcoe (indirect potable reuse) and will be required to meet strict effluent phosphorus load limits set forth by the Lake Simcoe Phosphorus Reduction St...

In this paper we present the first results of the characterization of fouled desalination RO membranes with STEM-EDS. This technique permits to visualize the cross-section of the fouled membrane with taking advantage of the very high resolution of transmission electron microscope (TEM) and getting its chemical composition with the energy dispersive...

This presentation will help owners and engineers understand the implications of several noneconomic factors that need to be considered when selecting among viable technical solutions for treating surface waters. Water demand projections indicated that the City of Broken Arrow (COBA) will need additional water supply from the Verdigris River (VR) to...

Membrane filtration of wastewater accompanies formation of cake layers in membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems. The cake layer has been thought to cause flux decline in MBR for treating various wastewaters under different operating conditions, whereas several recent investigators reported that the cake layer on the membrane surface could enhance perme...

South Blount County Utility District (SBCUD) has an exceptionally pure raw water supply from Tellico Lake, with very low levels of natural alkalinity (6 mg/L - 8 mg/L). The raw water turbidity is typically less than 1 NTU, allowing direct membrane filtration without sedimentation. Ultimately, this low-alkalinity supply resulted in a tendency of the...

The use of membrane systems in municipal applications can be divided between new green field plants and retrofit of existing conventional filtration facilities. Both types of construction have their benefits and drawbacks depending on the application, site conditions and age of the existing infrastructure. Using a retrofit approach can be very bene...

Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane systems are an attractive technology for groundwater and surface water treatment. Proper system design is especially critical in surface waters with higher levels of organic and solid materials. For these difficult waters, membrane filtration is often substantially improved through effective pretreatment and maintenanc...

All raw waters contain microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, virus, algae, which have the ability to reproduce and form a biofilm under favorable conditions, like on the surface of a reverse osmosis (RO) or nanofiltration (NF) membrane, where nutrients dissolved in the water accumulate. Like all the depositions on membrane surfaces, biofouling ma...

Is recovering energy in low pressure RO systems worth it? The energy consumption of RO process itself accounts for 80% of the overall energy consumption of the facility, and cost of energy accounts for approximately 50% of the annual operating costs. The economics would very much depend on the amount of energy that is recoverable and, more import...

Energy is often the most significant factor in the affordability and sustainability of treating various different source waters by desalination. More than 33% of the cost to produce water using reverse osmosis technology is attributed to electrical demands. As a result, there is considerable interest in optimizing energy and employing renewable ene...

The energy requirement of seawater desalination is a key issue faced by water utilities that are interested in evaluating desalination as a source of potable water. To understand the amount of energy required to operate a proposed desalination facility, it may be helpful to consider the facility?s energy use in terms of more familiar residential an...

NSF International evaluated The Dow Chemical Company SFD-2880 UF membrane module for MS2 reduction at four different fluxes, and also with and without a cut fiber, to compare MS2 log reduction under the different scenarios. All tests were conducted in accordance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Long Term 2 Enhanced Surface Water ...

MIT PRESSURES FOR MEMBRANES IN TERTIARY FILTER APPLICATIONS. Operations staff repaired the fibers using the new MIT pressure of 10.3 psi and resumed operation of the pilot plant. Water quality data improved dramatically. The membranes were able to remove Total P to below a monthly maximum of 0.04 mg/L, while existing sand filters removed Total P t...

USING A SINGLE SET OF MEMBRANE EQUIPMENT FOR BOTH DIRECT FILTRATION AND SETTLED WATER FILTRATION. The City of Mansfield (City) Bud Ervin Water Treatment Plant (WTP) has underdone multiple expansions over the past three decades. The Phase IV expansion was the most recent expansion and included the selection and design of a low-pressure membrane sys...

U.S. MUNICIPAL DESALINATION PLANT STATISTICS AND CONCENTRATE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ISSUES. The concentrate management (CM) problem is that it is getting more difficult to manage concentrate in a cost-effective and environmentally safe manner. The challenge of managing concentrate is related to its volume, salinity, and composition. Historicall...

Experiment with willows to treat RO concentrate at Torreele? s water re-use facility in Flanders, Belgium. The Torreele facility produces infiltration water (since July 2002) for indirect potable re-use through artificial recharge of the dune aquifer of St-Andr‚. The secondary wastewater effluent is treated by a combination of membrane technique...

For low-pressure membrane systems, one of the key design considerations involves where the waste from the membrane system will be sent and how it will be treated. For a cost effective low-pressure membrane system, the recovery is typically limited to 95-97% recovery. A 2-stage membrane system may increase the overall plant recovery to greater than...

DEVELOPMENT OF A MEMBRANE FOULING INDEX BASED ON PILOT STUDIES WITH LOW PRESSURE MEMBRANES OPERATED UNDER VARYING CONDITIONS AND WATER QUALITIES.The primary goal of this WRF funded research was to (i) contrast NOM-related fouling potential for different types of waters (allochthonous versus autochthonous); (ii) develop a predictive tool(s), either ...

The water permeabilities of two polyamide thin-film composite membranes and polymerdensities of their active layers were measured. The results were analyzed under theframework of the free volume theory. Water permeabilities were measured using a dead end cell, and active layer densities were calculated by measuring the mass per unit area and avera...

Corrosion coupon studies were performed on the finished water of various plants on the East Coast of Florida. Of those plants, three produced finished water consisting of Reverse Osmosis (RO) permeate blended with filtered feedwater, one plant blended RO permeate with lime softened water, and one plant produced only lime softened water. The purpos...

The following technologies and applications have been included in the cost analyses: Reverse osmosis (RO) for seawater desalination; RO for brackish water desalting and water reuse applications; Nanofiltration (NF) for water softening and color/organic removal; Ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) for particle filtration, pretreatment for ...

This paper summarizes surveys of and discussions with multiple WTP operators of MF/UF-based plants about their full scale facilities, focusing on the frequency of fiber breaks and the associated costs for labor and repairs. Costs are presented in US Dollars. The data are normalized to reflect the relative usage by manufacturer to represent the actu...

In November 2008, the City of Oxnard, located sixty miles northwest of Los Angeles, commissioned its first, large scale, brackish water reverse osmosis (BWRO) desalination water treatment facility as part of its comprehensive regional water resources development program. The uniquely designed RO uses energy saving technologies in a hybrid configur...

Reliable methods to predict the fouling potential of reverse osmosis (RO) feed waters are important in preventing and diagnosing fouling at the design stage, and for monitoring pretreatment performance during plant operation (Boerlage, 2007). Particles (both inorganic and organic) are one of the possible origins of RO fouling. However, as mentioned...

In this study, the fouling potential of EfOM from secondary effluent of the Jeddah WWTP was investigated through constant-pressure dead-end filtration tests with a sequential UF and NF array. Advanced analytical methods including liquid chromatography with online organic carbon detection (LC-OCD) and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (F-EEM) ...

Membrane fouling by natural organic matter (NOM) is an inevitable phenomenon and one of the greatest hurdles in membrane filtration processes employed to treat surface water for potable water production (Bolton et al. (2006); Lahoussine-Turcaud et al. (1990)). A great deal of effort has been made to understand the nature of the membrane fouling, to...

Irreversible membrane scaling caused by silica remains a severe problem in many reverse osmo-sis plants. The engineering task is to find out the appropriate anti-scalant agent and its optimal dosage. Because suitable test methods are missing, a new membrane-based test method was de-veloped. The fully automatically controlled test set-up and the tes...

CHALLENGES AND REWARDS OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF A 2 MGD BRACKISH WATER RO PLANT IN MARYLAND.In 2008, WATEK Engineering was hired by MES to perform a comprehensive evaluation and make recommendations for plant upgrade and/or replacement. The WTP was not meeting water quality requirements and had major capacity and system deficiencies. This pre...

PILOT TESTING OF THE LOWER HUDSON RIVER FOR POTABLE WATER PRODUCTION.within Haverstraw Bay approximately 40 miles upstream, United Water New York Inc. is pilot testing various technologies to produce potable water. This reach of the river is brackish and can see primarily freshwater conditions during high river flow conditions to saline brackish w...

ADAPTING TO THE WHIMS OF NATURE: POST-CONSTRUCTION AUTOMATION OF MF/RO SYSTEMS WITHIN A LARGE ADVANCED WATER REUSE PLANT FOR INTERMITTENT OPERATION. The paper outlines the modifications to the automation and control strategies associated with the operation of the MF and RO systems to allow for intermittent low-flow operation without compromising m...

Controlling microbiological growth in reverse osmosis systems has proven more challenging then treating other industrial water systems. The polymer structures comprising the membrane material are susceptible to degradation by strong halogen based oxidants such as chlorine and bromine. The control of microbiological growth on reverse osmosis membran...

WASTEWATER TREATMENT WITH MBR & RO FOR PULP & PAPER MILLS. A pilot study was conducted for two months using MBR & RO directly treating the wastewater from the paper mill. The wastewater discharge was sent to a 4 GPM (Gallons per Minute) MBR pilot consisting of a biological tank and a membrane tank. The effluent from the MBR was sent to a 4 inch si...

In this work (partial results) a series of jar testing experiments were conducted to identify the impacts of tricarboxylic citric acid on the effectiveness of aluminum sulfate and ferric chloride coagulants. Acetic acid, a monocarboxylic acid, was also evaluated for the purposes of comparison with citric acid. Citric acid was found to adversely aff...

SECONDARY MEMBRANES FOR BACKWASH RECOVERY: ESTABLISHING DESIGN CRITERIA, DEMONSTRATING PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS, AND IMPLEMENTATION. The proposed SFWTP will incorporate a submerged ultrafiltration membrane system and will be operated using a siphon (without feed or filtrate pumps), enabling the new facility to utilize available topography for red...

IMPACT OF OPERATIONAL STRATEGIES TO PREVENT SILICA FOULING IN REDUCING COSTS IN BWRO SYSTEMS: CASE STUDY FOR ARICA 18,000M3/DAY BWRO PLANT IN CHILE.In this paper cost savings of operational strategies adopted in Arica Desalination plant are calculated and presented. The importance of operational practices in reducing energy consumption is demonstra...

NEW CHEAP CERAMIC MEMBRANES FOR ULTRA FILTRATION. Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes have certain merits compared to polymeric membranes. They have a high selectivity due to their uniform pore size. Also they are highly resistant against heat, acidic and base surroundings. They can be used in much higher temperatures than polymeric membranes ar...

COMPARISON OF FOULING POTENTIAL AND CLEANING EFFICIENCY OF CERAMIC AND POLYMERIC MEMBRANES FOR WATER TREATMENT APPLICATIONS. In this study, constant flux experiments were conducted to quantify the fouling tendency and cleaning efficiency using a model feed water composition chosen to simulate surface water under the influence of wastewater. An al...

This talk focuses on improving pretreatment for ceramic membranes. Coagulation pretreatment using a high-basicity PACl mitigates irreversible membrane fouling of the ceramic membrane and attenuates transmembrane pressure (TMP) increases more effectively than typical PACl and offers additional benefits including lower levels of dissolved residual al...

Ten SWRO facilities in seven countries were interviewed in on a number of topics covering conveyance, hydraulics, integration, blending strategies, water quality goals, post-treatment, corrosion control and lessons learned. The most significant findings were strategies for controlling bromide to minimize chloramine residual decay, the advantage...

Two large desalination facilities in Australia are compared; the Perth system uses a pressurized UF while Adelaide employs a submerged UF process. This paper compares the commissioning strategies and challenges associated with each of these UF systems. In addition to start-up challenges, a comparison of the initial operating data of the full scale ...

This paper describes a model that can be used to assess RO membrane performance using local hydraulic resistances and local fouling rates. The model links measured plant parameters with the internal characteristics of RO membranes and was calibrated using RO projection programs, operation data or literature data....

Aeration through bubbling is widely used in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for fouling control as well as oxygen transfer and is the most significant component in the energy consumption of the MBRs. This paper examines the optimum aeration rate which mitigates fouling...

This paper focuses on how the Irving Ranch Water District has incorporated MBR technology into its water recycling program. The paper details the planning, design, and construction process which could help other agencies that may be considering implementing a large scale membrane bioreactor to meet their increasing water demands...

The MA DEP has stringent discharge limits on wastewater total organic carbon (TOC) concentration which is dictated by the ground water travel time from discharge point to the public water supply source. The use of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and RO membranes in tandem is used by the City of Wayland to meet these requirements. The RO system achiev...

This work examines the interaction between organic matter and metal oxides in ceramic membrane treatment and indicate that both size exclusion and adsorption phenomena occur (on surface, inside pores)....

This paper examines a patented membrane cleaning and restoration technology which uses direct osmosis which is implemented through a high salinity solution that travels across the surface of the membrane. Several installations of the Direct Osmosis-High Salinity (DO-HS) technology have been completed and the results indicate that it mitigates memb...

The use of polymer in pre-treatment steps to MF/UF membrane systems is typically avoided by engineers and membrane suppliers due to concerns of irreversible membrane fouling. This study documents the adverse impacts associated with polymer in the MF feed water. Investigation showed that MF modules retained solids associated with the polymer and r...

This study documents the pilot work performed by the City of West Palm Beach in support of a plant upgrade. The new treatment process includes magnetic ion exchange (MIEX?), low pressure membrane ultrafiltration (UF), and granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption. This treatment process provides organics removal and superior pathogen removal usi...

MA State regulations stipulate that membrane filtration systems must pilot surface water sources to prove overall performance and treatment efficacy. This study shows the successful piloting of ultrafiltration (UF) for the City of Salem Water Treatment Facility Upgrade. The raw water supply exhibits seasonally high concentrations of iron and manga...

This paper describes the design and pilot work for the Nanaimo South Fork Water Treatment Plant on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The raw water is very flashy with frequent, short spikes in turbidity, organics, and colour. Submerged membranes minimize hydraulic losses across the plant and secondary membranes are used to treat the bac...

Brown County Water Improvement District No. 1 (BCWID) is a wholesale supplier of raw water from Lake Brownwood used for irrigation and treated water used for municipal purposes. To meet increasing demand, an additional 7.5 MGD capacity was identified in 2001. In the summer of 2003, a microfiltration (MF) system was selected for pilot testing to ev...

This paper provides an overview of the approach and focused deliberation which resulted in the selection of a treatment process that moved beyond regulatory requirements to meet consumer expectations for the City of Rifle, CO. The application of RO for treating fresh surface water is relatively uncommon but are likely to increase as utilities use ...

A pilot-scale treatability study was conducted for Lee County FL to examine how to minimize the level of pretreatment and manage NF/RO membrane fouling while allowing for maximum flexibility in the utilization of multiple and variable water resources. Testing identified a two-step ion exchange process (strong sodium-based cation followed by weak c...

Fouling of RO membranes in wastewater treatment due to organic contaminants is a major challenge which has limited the broad scale implementation of the technology. A variety of detailed studies of WWRO fouling at commercial facilities are examined in this paper to better understand these fouling trends and the role of dissolved organic chemicals...

The City of Escondido (City) is actively engaged in evaluating various options for ensuring adequate capacity at its Hale Avenue Resource Recovery Facility (HARRF.) The City is also interested in evaluating tertiary filtration technologies for upgrading existing continuous backwashing sand filters. In addition, the City is interested in evaluating ...

This presentation summarizes the full scale performance of three currently available RO membrane products in a tertiary MF/RO water reuse application. The use of large diameter RO technology in parallel with standard 8-inch technology at the Scottsdale Water Campus allows for the comparison of larger diameter RO technology to conventional 8-inch R...

The control of fouling is key to sustainable membrane operation. This study compares pretreatment for two ultrafiltration (UF) plants treating the same source water (Lake Ontario). By reducing fouling, the use of biofiltration as a pretreatment has the potential to reduce chemical usage for, and waste generation from, membrane processes, thus co...

This presentation provides a lifecycle cost methodology to determine the factors to be considered, how the factors should be used to determine the total long-term project cost of each, and then how to determine which system is the lowest overall cost for possible implementation in a project....

This paper describes two large scale membrane treatment applications in China which focus on seawater desalination and reuse schemes. It covers plant design, engineering, and operational information of the two plants and shows why local circumstances sometimes favor waste water reuse and sometime favor seawater desalination....

The variety of pretreatment schemes for Australian desalination facilities with similar intake water quality and regulations are discussed....

Fouling of RO membranes is examined one at lab scale with the emphasis on investigating the changes in the relative composition of foulant material as a function of running time for a given feed water quality. Fouling characterization was performed by ultra-structural, chemical and microbial analyses. This comparative analysis of fouled membranes h...

There is an established minimum level corrosion resistance required for a stainless steel to resist long-term exposure to ambient temperature seawater environments, such as those encountered in high pressure piping in seawater RO systems. Recommendations on fabrication, welding, and post weld cleaning as well as quality control methods are provide...

In some regions, the extraction of fresh groundwater may be accompanied by the upconing of brackish water. A possible treatment and resource management approach is the ?Freshkeeper? concept. The brackish water is desalinated and the concentrate is disposed of in a deeper, confined aquifer. The fresh-brackish interface in the source aquifer is st...

This paper summarizes a research effort which examined electrodialysis metathesis (EDM) to treat concentrate. EDM has the potential to meet be a cost-effective water recovery method and an opportunity to concentrate solids into salt products. EDM provides two advantages in treating concentrate because it has a much higher rates of water recovery c...

This paper outlines the development of a toolkit program for concentrate management options. It was designed to be used by designers, contractors and municipal staff involved in a desalination program. The paper also discusses the incorporation of land usage, materials, mechanical and process comparisons. The consideration of membrane technology, ...

This paper examines the use of a membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR) to remove perchlorate in a groundwater from ~10 mg/L to below the Arizona clean-up level of 14 æg/L. Results provided indicate that a two stage MBfR is needed to reach the Arizona target concentration because of sulfate reduction...

This paper describes the development and optimization of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor for the treatment of mixed waste (i.e., municipal wastewater and food waste) and production of biogas for small and decentralized communities. A cross-flow ceramic ultrafiltration membrane pilot was backpulsed and operated intermittently at high cross flow vel...

Modeling of two membrane bioreactor processes to evaluate methane production for power generation. The two approaches compared include an aerobic membrane bioreactor coupled with a traditional anaerobic digester plus direct treatment by an anaerobic digester....

The presentation will highlight several sites that employed this control system including before and after results for TOC removal/DBP formation as well as reduced membrane fouling. The presentation will also provide additional detail regarding control system features and operability....

The City of Bowling Green Water Treatment Plant (WTP) was recently expanded with the addition of an Integrated Membrane Facility (IMF), consisting of microfiltration followed by reverse osmosis membrane treatment. The previously existing treatment consists of conventional ferric chloride chemical treatment, lime softening, multimedia filtration and...

This paper describes the water quality challenges, bench-scale and pilot-scale tests, upgrade process selection criteria, economic evaluation of upgrade options and construction implementation while keeping the current WTP in service and incorporating it into the upgraded facility....

Paper addresses the inherent problem of Reverse Osmosis (RO) permeate corrositivity to concrete and metal because of its low pH and Langelier Saturation Index. Specific study results are offered relative to the use of micronized calcium carbonate instead of lime for RO permeate stabilization....

The East Cherry Creek Valley Water and Sanitation District (District) is constructing a 10 MGD brackish water reverse osmosis project to provide a new renewable water source to a portion of the southeast metropolitan Denver that is currently served exclusively from deep non-renewable groundwater. The District evaluated several concentrate disposal ...

Projected decrease in water supplies in Texas due to sediment accumulation in reservoirs and aquifer depletion have led state and regional water planning agencies to turn to brackish water in aquifers as an alternate water supply source to address rising water demands. Reverse osmosis is a viable treatment technology to treat brackish water to pota...

Inland brackish water desalination is offered as a means of creating ?new? water resources in acid regions. However, paper concedes treatment cost remains high and is often exacerbated by cost of concentrate disposal. Paper details the use of high-recovery electro-dialysis reversal (EDR) to reduce treatment costs by minimizing volume of concentrate...

An account of the challenges operating and expanding the Alameda County, CA Water District?s Newark Brackish Water Desalination Facility is provided. Topics detailed include historical operational performance and cost, upgrading of cartridge prefilters, stainless piping well failures due to corrosion and concentrate disposal....

With the growth in the numbers and sizes of reverse osmosis (RO) plants around the world for desalination of brackish, waste and seawater, the costs of operation and maintenance (O&M) of these plants also increase dramatically. We report here several significant cost saving potentials that do not require capital investment....

Pinellas County Utilities (County) Solid Waste Department receives an average of 3,000 tons per day of municipal solid waste. The bulk of the waste stream is incinerated at their 75 MW waste to energy facility. Cooling towers remove process heat and cool the incinerator off-gas by evaporative cooling. Faced with the combined challenges of a deterio...

Study investigating the physio-chemical properties of the thin-film composite reverse osmosis membranes for the desalination of oil sands process-affected water. Objective of work presented is to determine the optimal condition of the pretreatment process of coagulation - flocculation - sedimentation for the membrane system....

The City of Scottsdale is currently expanding and optimizing the Water Campus Advanced Water Treatment (AWT) system, which produces high quality reclaimed water for open access irrigation and indirect potable reuse through vadose zone injection. As part of the project, new ultrafiltration trains were provided as pretreatment to an expanded RO syste...

Arsenic (As) is present in several of the wells that El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) uses as part of the drinking water supply. EPWU has several wells that are equipped with reverse osmosis (RO) systems for desalting brackish groundwater. This process is referred to as Wellhead RO. At most of the wells, the RO membranes do an excellent job of reject...

This paper will present the results of the pilot testing, design equations that can be used to scale up the pilot test results and a comparison of this technology with more conventional treatment technologies (packed column aeration and granular activated carbon). Preliminary cost comparisons indicate that this technology is significantly more cost...

Study compares advanced treatment pilot testing results aimed at reducing maintenance costs while also improving contaminate rejection in application of indirect and direct potable water reuse. Evaluation focuses on failing rate, salt passage and reduction of contaminants of emerging concern. Reverse Osmosis membranes from three manufacturers were ...

The implementation of membrane technologies in water treatment plants has grown significantly in the last decade driven by cost competitiveness, space efficiency and high throughputs compared to conventional technologies. The market growth for membranes has been impressive especially considering that earlier this decade continuous product innovatio...

To increase plant production capacity, the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, recently completed a major renovation at their Marys Lake Water Treatment Plant (WTP). Estes Park is mountain community located northwest of Denver with a permanent population of approximately 11,500. It serves as the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park where yearly visito...

This paper will discuss the challenges and lessons learned during the permitting, construction and commissioning of the Marco Island surface water membrane filtration system. This paper will also discuss the master planning of the upgrades to the existing conventional and brackish water RO facilities and how the new membrane filtration system provi...

The paper will evaluate the approach to optimizing RO seawater systems design through the utilization of a hybrid brackish - seawater process configuration. Projected process parameters and economic results for a number of selected sites will be presented. The rationale behind the selection of design parameters, economics benefits and the technical...

This paper will explore the other practical issues that can arise when very high permeable SWRO membranes are used. One example is the flux imbalance that can occur in a pressure vessel. It is not unusual for the net driving pressure of the feed end to result in flux rates which differ by a factor of 10 times from the first to last element in the v...

The paper provides design concepts for construction of the tunnel and collector wells, and concludes with a discussion of potential advantages and disadvantages of a DIG intake for this project in comparison to submerged intake, slant wells, or seabed (shallow) infiltration gallery alternatives....

The Scenic Illinois River is currently experiencing high levels of phosphorous that promote eutrophication and impair overall water quality. Recently, the States of Oklahoma and Arkansas have entered into an agreement, Statement of Joint Principles and Actions, to reduce nutrient loadings in the Illinois River Basin. This agreement includes setting...

This paper will present the startup of the MBR facility. The startup flow was only 2.5 mgd which presented challenges not only for meeting effluent nitrogen and phosphorus limits, but also operational performance guarantees. These included guarantees of chemical and power costs per unit volume of wastewater treated. The paper will describe how thes...

Stone Brew Co. in Escondido, California, built a brand new brewing facility with a simple wastewater treatment system adjacent to a restaurant and one acre beer garden in 2005. After some significant production growth, the City threatened to significantly increase the water rate to be able to accommodate the higher organic strength and solids conte...

Paper explored the use of cyclic ion exchange to reduce reverse osmosis (RO) concentrate volumes produced in the treatment process. Report suggests that the ion exchange softening of the RO feed water allows for higher recovery rates by minimizing the potential for membrane scaling. Potential reductions in concentrate volume of 5-10% are noted....

Reports of various evaluations of microfiltration and ultrafiltration removal performance of prototype strains of Norovirus. Study suggests that 3-log removal, possibly 4-log removal, is achievable through the membrane filtration process....

Study sets forth Clark County Nevada Water Reclamation District efforts to enhance its indirect potable reuse water quality to protect its water resources and local environment. Report chronicles addition of tertiary membrane filtration and ozone disinfection. Benefits of the transition are noted to include reduced total phosphorus, increased disin...

Polyamide membranes are subject to deterioration by the chlorine added to the feed water. The desired, more robust membrane, would tolerate higher concentrations of chlorine without chemical damage. The current polyamide thin film membrane is made by an interfacial reaction between the reactant pair trimesoyl chloride (TMC) and m-phenylenediamine (...

Presentation described the development and testing of solar power driven membrane distillation for use in rural water-stressed areas. The report details how such systems are more cost effective than conventional thermal distillation and reverse osmosis desalination which are more energy intensive and require exclusive pretreatment....

This paper will summarize application area(s), where and when the technologies have been tested or implemented (if applicable), testing results, state of development, and implementability potential of the technologies in next 5 years. The information presented in this paper will provide a great value for agencies, researchers and consultants who ar...

Paper presents the results of pilot testing of nanofiltration water treatment conducted on behalf of Miami Dade Water & Sewer Department. The pilot treatment train included dual media pressure filters, strainers, cartridge filters, three stage nanofiltration array and an ultraviolet system. The testing evaluated alternative membranes and optional o...

This paper documents the results of a 2,000 hour nanofiltration (NF) pilot study on very challenging North Carolina well water. The challenges were as followed: Very high iron, up to over 8 mg/L in some wells; Very high silica, up to over 70 mg/L in some wells; A combination of at least two wells is always required to be in operation at all times r...

Paper compares conventional and membrane pre-treatment options prior to nanofiltration water treatment to determine their relative effectiveness in controlling membrane fouling. The study was performed on a pilot scale at the Choisy-le-Roi Drinking Water Treatment Plant near Paris, France....

The effects of repeated chemical cleaning of polyvinylidene flouid (PVDF) microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membranes through the use of sodium hypochlonite is presented. The paper provides detailed data on the impacts to the chemical/physical characteristics of multiple membranes as a result of the cleaning at various doses and concent...

Research conducted to examine the effect of transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) in the fouling of ultrafiltration ceramic membranes used to treat seawater from the Red Sea. Although ceramic membranes are known to be robust against high pressures encountered in backwashing and cleaning chemicals, the study was undertaken to determine optimal flux...

These optical and microscopic techniques combined with others such as chemical observation of surface (FTIR), or hydraulic-dynamic tests (filtration tests, molecules or micro-organisms retention) can help to improve the understanding of fouling and/or ageing phenomena occurring during drinking water production in order to manage and minimize them....

Paper chronicles the City of Port St. Lucie?s 2011 Reverse Osmosis membrane replacement process which included significant pilot testing. Piloting was conducted to achieve chemical reduction, process optimization, energy reduction and improved water quality. The result of this work ultimately resulted in a reduction in treatment cost of $0.06 per t...

The paper will discuss the implementation of specific improvements in an operating facility and the resulting operating and maintenance improvements, as well as the use of this facility for ongoing pilot work....

This presentation will provide attendees with an appreciation of how operational challenges can not only be addressed but overall operations optimized through focused forensic and collaborative efforts. The findings will give water plant superintendents and operators an appreciation of methods for enhanced overall plant operations, and prepare and ...

Forward osmosis (FO) is a rapidly-growing membrane technology that can be used as an energy-saving alternative to standard membrane water treatment systems such as reverse osmosis (RO). FO in combination with low pressure RO can be applied for water reuse. FO is a membrane filtration process driven by the osmotic pressure difference originating fro...

Research conducted to determine optimal design factors for draw solution recovery in foward osmosis treatment systems. To capitalize on the energy efficiencies of foward osmosis the design of the draw solution recovery reverse osmosis desalting needs to be as efficient as possible. The paper reports on simulations to best design foward osmosis and ...

The study of forward osmosis (FO) membranes is increasing in importance due to their well-known advantages (low-energy consumption and reduced fouling) when compared to high-energy consuming membrane technologies such as reverse osmosis (RO). This research focused on the characterization of the natural organic matter (NOM) fraction causing fouling ...

This presentation will focus on bench and pilot testing results of concentrate treatment technologies. It will include capital, O&M and life cycle cost analysis for various concentrate pretreatment and treatment technologies. These costs are based on design and operational parameters (e.g. chemical does, resin regeneration frequency) validated thro...

Paper focuses on several membrane-based treatment approaches that are aimed at achieving water recoveries greater than 90% to maximize yield while minimizing impacts from waste disposal. Technologies including reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, electrodialysis and electrodialysis metathesis were evaluated. The study confirms that selection of a suita...

The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) is developing brackish groundwater supplies to enhance their available water supply options and help meet the growing water demand in the San Antonio, Texas area. The groundwater is characterized by 1,400 mg/L TDS, dissolved iron up to 0.7 mg/L, moderate silica (9 mg/L), pH 7.3, and 30øC temperature. In addition...

Study evaluates the use of the combination of both a membrane bioreactor and an integrated fixed film bioreactor in order to reduce site footprint requirements. Pilot testing of the system yielded stable permeability and high level of contaminant removal. Design yields very compact system with high quality effluent for reuse....

Paper presents the deisng considerations of the Jurong membrane bioreactor treatment facility in Singapore. The plant was designed retrofitting existing aeration basins with a membrane bioreactor to produce effluent which is suitable for reuse in industrial applications. Report outlines steps taken that are expected to reduce overall energy consump...

A vegetable processing facility in Kobe, Japan, peels, washes and packages vegetables for distribution. Its operation produces and average of 53,000 gpd of wastewater. The vegetable washing produces a low BOD waste but the peelings are pressed to dewater and produce a very high BOD waste. As a result, the blended wastewater was found to be high in ...