Presentation looks at effects of cleanings on membranes and emphisizes the importants of cleaning in a timely manner, and selecting the appropriate cleaner to increase cleaning effectivness and limit damage to membranes by frequent and ineffective cleanings....

The presentation will provide an introduction to nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. It will provide an overview of NF/RO membrane characterization, configuration, and applications. Basic principals of NF/RO will be discussed, including including retention, recovery, flux, concentration polarization, and operational parameters. It will also intr...

There will be a review of MF and UF membrane products in the market and how they are used. This will include an overview of Preventative Maintenance, Troubleshooting, Module Maintenance, and Module Replacement. A knowledge of how, when and why MF/UF foul and a set of good maintenance procedures, membrane modules can be quickly repaired and returned...

Autopsy is a qualitative and quantitative destructive analysis of a membrane element. It is often used to troubleshoot system performance issues and improve operations by analyzing foulant for a smarter CIP specialty chemical choice....

Fort Dodge Reverse Osmosis Facility is a newly started (April 2021) membrane treatment system in the state of Iowa. The presentation includes the initial reasons for the facility upgrade and why RO was chosen. Basic overview of initial pilot studies (2 in this instance, direct feed v pretreatment), current overall facility flow and treatment. Key s...

Membranes are used widely to treat drinking water in Iowa. This presentation provides an overview of low and high pressure membranes used in Iowa, the water quality of various aquifers, regulatory requirements, pilot protocol and testing, and design considerations. This presentation will also include a brief IDNR General Rules Update....

New 3.5 MGD reverse osmosis plant introduction and overview. Experiences of starting up a new reverse osmosis plant including the trains themselves, chemical feed systems, pumps for distribution, and overall building systems. Grimes need for more water production was the reason for the new, larger reverse osmosis plant. Remodeled 1.4 MGD lime softe...

This presentation is all about membrane rejection, how to calculate it, where to sample for it, and what the numbers are telling us. Knowing how to collect and analyze this information on a RO membrane system will allow an operator to setup a conductivity profile and then a rejection profile for all parts of the RO process. Using these skills will ...

The ground water wells in town of walkersville were known to be under the influence of surface water. In 1999, a rupture in a sewer line caused over a million gallons of raw sewage into the Town’s well aquifer, causing plant shutdown, boil water notices, and pumping raw water to the sewer system for weeks. In 2008, a manure spill incapacitated th...

Learn about some common and not so common trials and tribulations of conducting RO/NF pilot studies and starting up full-scale RO/NF water treatment plants. The RO/NF process and the science behind it doesn't change, but every project is unique in design as far as size, feed water source, pretreatment, piping arrangement, instrumentation, etc. whic...

This presentation covers the pilot study or iron removal filtration followed by reverse osmosis and the subsequent full scale system design and implementation at Prestage Foods in Eagle Grove, Iowa. This treatment system was to provide all site water requirements for the new Prestage pork processing facility. The challenges with iron removal and fo...

This case study will describe the options considered for capacity expansion of Saylorville WTP in Des Moines, IA. The facility currently has submerged MF/UF filtration with a side stream RO system for softening. The alternatives analysis used a decision matrix which included capital and life cycle cost as well as non-economic factors to recommend l...

The City of Fargo, ND, owns and operates a 15 MGD membrane WTP that treats surface water that has high fouling potential: 8-16 mg/L organics, TDS up to 1,000 mg/L, and wide temperature swing 33-85 °F. The plant faces various challenges through seasons: pretreatment upsets (poor settling) and high operating pressures in winter and spring, severe or...

PFAS Contamination is becoming a larger issue as more source waters are being detected with trace amounts to high levels of contamination. Membrane filtration is a viable option, but creates other issues that require complimentary filtration equipment. How to help smaller municipalities that may struggle for capital funding for treatment systems ...

The Mandaree WTP has been using pressure UF membranes for 10+ years. As the modules reach the end of their life, and in consideration of increased plant capacity a ceramic membrane pilot was completed. This presentation will present the results of the pilot study....

In 2004, the Village of Byesville constructed Ohio's first microfiltration membrane drinking water plant, designed to treat water from wells inside abandoned coal mines. After five years, the membranes began having integrity issues (fiber breaks), which steadily continued until, in 2014, the membrane trains were replaced with racks containing a un...