Effect of biological and coagulation pre-treatments to control organic and biofouling potential components of ultrafiltration membrane in the treatment of lake water.
Biological aerated filter (BAF), sand filtration (SF), alum and Moringa oleifera coagulation were investigated as a pre-treatment for reducing the organic and biofouling potential component of an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane in the treatment of lake water. The carbohydrate content was mainly responsible for reversible fouling of the UF membrane compared to protein or dissolved organic carbon (DOC) content. All pre-treatment could effectively reduce these contents and led to improve the UF filterability. Both BAF and SF markedly led to improvement in flux than coagulation processes, and alum gave greater flux than M. oleifera. This was attributed to the effective removal and/or breakdown of high molecular weight (MW) organics by biofilters. BAF led to greater improvement in flux than SF, due to greater breakdown of high MW organics, and this was also confirmed by the attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis. Coagulation processes were ineffective in removing biofouling potential components, whereas both biofilters were very effective as shown by the reduction of low MW organics, biodegradable dissolved organic carbon and assimilable organic carbon contents. This study demonstrated the potential of biological pre-treatments for reducing organic and biofouling potential component and thus improving flux for the UF of lake water treatment.
a School of Engineering , RMIT University , Melbourne , Australia.
Biplob Kumar
BK
Pramanik
b Land and Water Resources Engineering , KTH Royal Institute of Technology , Stockholm , Sweden.
Annaduzzaman
A
Kajol
c Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment , Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , Selangor , Malaysia.
Fatihah
F
Suja
c Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment , Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia , Selangor , Malaysia.
Shahrom
S
Md Zain
D000534:Alum Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D057219:Biofouling / Q000517:prevention & control*; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D005427:Flocculation; D060106:Lakes; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D029588:Moringa oleifera / Q000737:chemistry; D012722:Sewage / Q000382:microbiology; D014462:Ultrafiltration / Q000295:instrumentation; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
D000534:Alum Compounds; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012722:Sewage; D014873:Water Pollutants; C041524:aluminum sulfate
Biofouling; lake water; organic fouling; pre-treatments; ultrafiltration