AWWA MTC69677

The City of New Brunswick, New Jersey owns and operates a surface water treatment plant that has a capacity of 18 MGD. The plant's pressure filters have reached the end of their useful life and a new filtration system is needed. In 2002, the City began planning for the pressure filter replacement by performing a feasibility study of potential replacement options. The study found that membrane filtration was a much better option than expansion of the gravity filtration system. Upon completion of the feasibility study, a basis of design for the membrane plant was conducted. The initial capacity of the membrane system will be 12 MGD and will be expandable to 24 MGD in the future. The basis of design included: desktop evaluation of several membrane suppliers; selection of three membrane suppliers for a three month pilot study; conceptual design of the three membrane systems based on the results of the pilot study; and, selection of the optimum membrane system for final design. Pilot testing was performed using Norit's X-flow membrane, GE/Zenon's ZW-1000 membrane and Memcor's CMF-S Membrane. Final design was completed in May 2006. Startup of the membrane system was performed in July 2008. This paper discusses the significant aspects of the design and operational phases of the project. Key aspects of the design that will be described include a summary of the pilot testing of the three membrane systems, the membrane selection and procurement process, the backwash waste handling system which enables recycling of spent filter backwash, and CIP neutralization and disposal system. Regarding commissioning and operation, the paper compares the results of the pilot testing to the full scale operation, how the performance of the membranes compares with the existing gravity filters, and how the flowrate from each filtration system is optimized. Includes 3 references, tables, figures.