AWWA MTC57576

New regulation on drinking water quality in the Province of Quebec in Canada, raisedinterest in nanofiltration (NF) technology for surface water treatment. Indeed, most of the surfacewaters of this province have a relatively low turbidity and are not very alkaline but containsignificant amounts of natural organic matter (NOM) which makes them difficult to treat at asmall scale with conventional treatments. NF allows simultaneous high removal of suspendedmatter, pathogens and NOM as long as the integrity of the system is maintained. It is rathersimple to operate and very compact. NF is already used in Northern Europe under similarconditions, specially in Scotland and in Norway where more than one hundred plants have beenbuilt since 1990. But few data are available regarding performances of these systems, inparticular about the critical question of membrane fouling.The main scope of this study was to address, on a pilot scale, the effect of the raw water qualityand operating conditions (permeate flux, recovery rate, recirculation flow rate) on the fouling rateof a NF membrane.The project was carried out with raw water coming from the Saint-Charles River, in the area ofQuebec City (Canada). Eighteen short pilot runs were conducted during summer and fall 2001.There was a good correlation betweenTOC and UV absorbance at 254 nm (UV254). The raw water specific UV absorbance (SUVA),based on TOC, was around 4.9 Lm-1mg-1. This indicates the importance of high molecular weighthydrophobic humic substances in the raw water. Includes 5 references, table, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. - No.

Published:

03/05/2003

Number of Pages:

7

File Size:

1 file , 250 KB