AWWA MTC61233

The primary goal of this AwwaRF funded research was to develop an understanding of the interactions between water quality, pretreatment chemicals, membrane materials, and membrane configurations in light of regulatory issues. Various membrane configurations and materials were tested at pilot-scale with various water qualities and operating conditions. Specific objectives of the pilot-scale were to evaluate the effects of pretreatment chemicals and processes on the performance of pilot-scale membrane systems, employing different membrane materials, configurations and varying water qualities. Pilot studies were conducted with USFilter Memcor continuous microfiltration (CMF) pilot units at the Atlanta Fulton County Water Treatment Plant, GA (AFCWTP, drinking water facility) utilizing clarified, pre-clarified, coagulated and raw waters as feed water. The CMF unit was equipped with 0.1 µm PVDF hollow fiber membranes. One indicator of system performance that was used was the rate of decline of temperature corrected specific flux under each of the test conditions. Membrane filtration cycle was evaluated through quantification of membrane flux decline rates. The results obtained show a strong decline in the membrane performance when the water quality deteriorates. These effects are more pronounced while using coagulated/raw water. The pressure driven CMF pilot unit was also tested with the new "Vanilla" PVDF membrane modules. Results from these pilot studies with waters of varying quality are compared and presented. Includes 7 references, tables, figures.