Long-time membrane experience at Torreele's water re-use facility in Belgium

摘要

At the Torreele facility the Intermunicipal Water Company of Veurne-Ambacht (IWVA) treats secondary wastewater effluent for indirect potable re-use via groundwater recharge in the dune water catchment of St. Andre. The treatment combining ultrafiltration (UF), using the submerged ZeeWeed system, and reverse osmosis (RO), using brackish water low-energy membranes, enables to produce a high-quality infiltration water, and this leads to sustainable groundwater management of the dune water catchment of St. Andre. Since start-up, in July 2002, different measures have been taken to optimize the membrane performance. Intermittent use of air on the UF system and variable recovery on the RO system reduced energy consumption per cubic metre produced. The latter also resulted in lower chemical consumption as did the pauses in chloramination. The backwash water and RO concentrate are discharged into a brackish canal, together with the effluent that is not reused. Since 2003, IWVA performed tests using natural systems to further treat this water.