title: The role of a combined coagulation and disk filtration process as a pre-treatment to microfiltration and reverse osmosis membranes in a municipal wastewater pilot plant.
abstract: A pilot study was conducted to assess the performance of a municipal wastewater reclamation plant consisting of a combined coagulation-disk filtration (CC-DF) process, microfiltration (MF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, in terms of the removal of water contaminants and changes in characteristics of effluent organic matter (EfOM). The CC-DF and MF membranes were not effective for the removal of dissolved water contaminants. However, they could partially reduce the turbidity associated with the cake layer formation by particulate materials on the membrane surfaces. Furthermore, most of water contaminants were completely removed by the RO membranes. Although the CC-DF process could remove approximately 20% of turbidity, the aluminium concentrations considerably increased after the CC-DF process due to the residual coagulants complexed with both carboxylic acid and alcohol functional groups of EfOM. Those aluminium-EfOM complexes had a lower negative charge and higher molecular weight (>0.1 μm pore size of the MF membranes) compared to non-complexed EfOM. These results indicate that the control of the formation of the aluminium-EfOM complexes should be considered as a key step to use the CC-DF process as a pre-treatment of the MF and RO membranes for mitigation of membrane fouling in the tested pilot plant.
authors.affiliation: Jeju Global Research Center (JGRC), Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER), 200 Haemajihaean-ro, Gujwa-eup, Jeju-si, Jeju-do 695-971, Republic of Korea; School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), 261 Cheomdan-gwagiro, Buk-gu, Gwangju 500-712, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kangmin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Chon
authors.affiliation: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 120-749, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Jaeweon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Environmental Technology Research Laboratory, Research and Business Development Center, Kolon Global, 199-5 Jeondae-ri, Pogok-eup, Cheoin-gu, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do 449-815, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Joon
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Architecture Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, 2066 Seobu-ro, Jangan-Gu, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do 440-746, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: amjang@skku.edu.
authors.forename: Am
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jang
mesh_terms: D000534:Alum Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D005374:Filtration / Q000379:methods*; D005427:Flocculation; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009995:Osmosis; D010865:Pilot Projects; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D000534:Alum Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; C041524:aluminum sulfate
keywords: Combined coagulation–disk filtration; Effluent organic matter; Microfiltration; Municipal wastewater reclamation; Reverse osmosis