A B S T R AC TIn this study, the critical fl ux of the submerged membrane system was experimentally evaluated when it was used for seawater with and without pre-treatment. In this study, different processes such as fl occulation with ferric chloride (FeCl 3 ) and different doses of PAC adsorption were used as a pre-treatment. The pretreatment of fl occulant of 2 mg/L of FeCl 3 and adsorption with the dose of 1 g/L PAC showed an improvement in the critical fl ux from 5 L/m 2 .h to 6.7 L/m 2 .h and 13.3 L/m 2 .h respectively. The performance of these pretreatments was also determined in terms of modifi ed fouling index using ultrafi lter membrane (UF-MFI). UF-MFI and SDI indicated that PAC adsorption was a better pretreatment than fl occulation for the seawater used in this study. Molecular weight distribution (MWD) of seawater organic matter was also examined after different pretreatments. MWD of the raw seawater was mainly in the range from 1510 to 130 Da. It is observed that FeCl 3 fl occulation and PAC adsorption as pretreatments partially removed the organic matter of 1510 Da and 130Da respectively.
In this paper the performance of single and dual media filters with in-line flocculation have been examined as pretreatment to seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO). A comparison of filter performance was made between single medium filter (80 cm) consisting of sand or anthracite, and dual media filter consisting of sand (40 cm at the bottom) and anthracite (40 cm on top). Short terms (6 hours) experiments were conducted with in-line coagulation followed by direct filtration. Filtration velocities of 5 m/h and 10 m/h were used. The performances of these filters were assessed in terms of turbidity removal, head loss build-up, and organic compound removal in terms of Molecular Weight Distribution (MWD). The efficiency of the filter as pretreatment was evaluated in terms of Silt Density Index (SDI) and Modified Fouling Index (MFI). It was found that the turbidity removal was high and all the filters produced more or less same quality water. There was a slower buildup of head loss for coarser filter medium. A post treatment of reverse osmosis after an inline-flocculation-dual media filtration showed lower normalized flux decline (J/J 0 ) (0.35 to 0.22 during the first 20 hours operation) while, seawater without any pretreatment showed steeper flux decline (0.18 to 0.11 at first 20 hours operation) in RO.
Recent advances in membrane technology have led to its broad application, and reverse osmosis (RO) systems now represent the fastest growing segment of the desalination market. Its performance is hindered by membrane fouling. In this study pre-treatment methods to reduce RO fouling were investigated including flocculation, adsorption and ion exchange. Detailed organic characterisations were made in terms of florescence spectroscopy excitation emission matrix (EEM), UV254 absorbance and liquid chromatography-organic carbon detection (LCOCD). The different pre-treatment methods were assessed in terms of the fouling potential. This was quantified in terms of the modified fouling index measured using a dead-end cell micro-filtration (MF) unit. The existing pre-treatment of granular activated carbon (GAC) filter led to a good organic removal. Among the pre-treatment methods tested in the laboratory, purolite ion exchange/adsorption was found to be better than FeCl3 flocculation in terms of the amount as well as the wide range of organics removal. A pre-treatment of flocculation with Poly-ferric-silicate (PFSi) as flocculent gave a higher removal of organic matter compared to other pre-treatments tested. DOC was reduced from 11.5 to 4.25 mg/L, and it removed mostly the humic type substances.
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