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Using loose nanofiltration membrane for lake water treatment: A pilot study

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Abstract

Nanofiltration (NF) using loose membranes has a high application potential for advanced treatment of drinking water by selectively removing contaminants from the water, while membrane fouling remains one of the biggest problems of the process. This paper reported a seven-month pilot study of using a loose NF membrane to treat a sand filtration effluent which had a relatively high turbidity (∼0.4 NTU) and high concentrations of organic matter (up to 5 mg/L as TOC), hardness and sulfate. Results showed that the membrane demonstrated a high rejection of TOC (by<90%) and a moderately high rejection of two pesticides (54%–82%) while a moderate rejection of both calcium and magnesium (∼45%) and a low rejection of total dissolved solids (∼27%). The membrane elements suffered from severe membrane fouling, with the membrane permeance decreased by 70% after 85 days operation. The membrane fouling was dominated by organic fouling, while biological fouling was moderate. Inorganic fouling was mainly caused by deposition of aluminum-bearing substances. Though inorganic foulants were minor contents on membrane, their contribution to overall membrane fouling was substantial. Membrane fouling was not uniform on membrane. While contents of organic and inorganic foulants were the highest at the inlet and outlet region, respectively, the severity of membrane fouling increased from the inlet to the outlet region of membrane element with a difference higher than 30%. While alkaline cleaning was not effective in removing the membrane foulants, the use of ethylenediamine tetraacetate (EDTA) at alkaline conditions could effectively restore the membrane permeance.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the funding for this research provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51761125013 and 51678331).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Danyang Liu, Johny Cabrera, Xiaomao Wang, Shuming Liu & Yuefeng F. Xie

  2. Chengdu Xingrong Environmental Co., Ltd., Chengdu, 610041, China

    Lijuan Zhong, Wenjing Wang & Dingyuan Duan

  3. Civil and Environmental Programs, Penn State University, Middletown, PA, 17057, USA

    Yuefeng F. Xie

Authors
  1. Danyang Liu
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  2. Johny Cabrera
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  3. Lijuan Zhong
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  4. Wenjing Wang
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  5. Dingyuan Duan
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  6. Xiaomao Wang
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  7. Shuming Liu
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  8. Yuefeng F. Xie
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaomao Wang.

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Highlights

• A pilot study was conducted for drinking water treatment using loose NF membranes.

• The membranes had very high rejection of NOM and medium rejection of Ca2+/Mg2+.

• Organic fouling was dominant and contribution of inorganic fouling was substantial.

• Both organic and inorganic fouling had spatial non-uniformity on membrane surface.

• Applying EDTA at basic conditions was effective in removing membrane fouling.

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Liu, D., Cabrera, J., Zhong, L. et al. Using loose nanofiltration membrane for lake water treatment: A pilot study. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng. 15, 69 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1362-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1362-6

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