Study of Wastewater Reclamation Using Backwashable Capillary Ultrafiltration and Encapsulated Reverse Osmosis Membrane Modules. Water Treatment Technology Program, Report No. 42

摘要

Hydranautics has developedd a new packaging configuration for spiral wound elements. This configuration is self-encapsulated and does not require a pressure vessel housing. The encapsulated design eliminates o-rings between the feed and permeate streams and has th potential to provide more reliable retention of pathogens in reclamation of contaminated waters. This test program evaluated the effectiveness of the encapsulated design with respect to: retention of pathogens; reliability and convenience of monitoring membrane element integrity; fouling tendency of the encapsulated design and effectiveness of cleaning procedures; and optimization of operating, parameters with respect to design of commercial systems. Results indicated: the encapsulated design enabled convenient monitoring, of individual element integrity; Virus rejection tests resulted in S-log rejection; fouling rates were low and comparable to standard configurations; a cleaning procedure, after eight months of operation, resulted in complete restoration of permeate flux; tertiary effluen water is of good quality and enables stable operation of RO; and low fouling membranes can operate at high flux rate, provide stable performance, and low fouling rates in reclamation of municipal effluents.