Design of Ultrafiltration plants

for safe drinking water

Frans Knops
Mark Steggink
Irene Krbl

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CONTENTS
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)

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INTRODUCTION
ULTRAFILTRATION
DESIGNING AN UF SYSTEM
COMPONENTS OF AN UF PLANT
MEMBRANE FOULING AND CLEANING
TESTING AND VALIDATING FOR DRINKING WATER
NEW DEVELOPMENTS
EXAMPLES OF POTABLE WATER UF PLANTS

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INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS A MEMBRANE?
A membrane is a selective physical barrier used to separate a stream
(gases or liquids and slurries) into its components based on their
permeability through the barrier.

COMMON MEMBRANES PROCESSES FOR WATER

TREATMENT:

Microfiltration (MF)
Ultrafiltration (UF)
Nanofiltration (NF)
Reverse Osmosis (RO)

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ULTRAFILTRATION

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DESIGNING AN UF SYSTEM
INFORMATION REQUIRED:
Feed Quality:

Capacity:

Micro biological removal efficiency

Removal of organics and color

Other considerations:

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Nominal flow
Peak flow

Required filtrate quality:

Non ionics: turbidity, TSS, COD, TOC, color, silica

Ionics: dissolved metals, alkalinity, silica
Others: temperature, pH

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Redundancy
Footprint

COMPONENTS OF AN UF PLANT
COMPONENTS OF AN UF PLANT
Pre-treatment
Pre-screen
UF skid
Chemical dosing unit(s)
Neutralisation unit
Backwash unit
CIP unit
Post treatment (disinfection, RO etc)
Membrane integrity test unit

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COMPONENTS OF AN UF PLANT
PRE-TREATMENT
Pre-treatment is installed to:

Typical UF pre-treatment processes:

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Remove particular foulants that UF is susceptible to. (e.g. Mn, Fe,

FOG)
Reduce size of UF plant by reducing TSS load.

DAF removal /reduction of FOG, COD and TSS

Green sand filter Mn and Fe removal, reduce TSS
Coagulation/Flocculation Reduce TSS load, remove oxidised Fe
and Mn
Activated carbon (GAC/PAC) colour, odour, TOC
Oxidation oxidation of Mn and Fe, reduction of TOC

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COMPONENTS OF AN UF PLANT
CHEMICAL DOSING UNITS

For pH adjustment, CEB, in-line coagulant dosing and

chemical neutralisation

Typical dosing sets required:

In-line coagulation: FeCl3, alum, PACl + pH adjustment
CEB: Caustic + NaOCl + acid
Neutralisation: Reducing agent (SBS) + acid/caustic

Considerations:

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Chemical dosing sets should be overdesigned to cater for

deterioration in chemical stock concentration and fluctuating
water quality

MEMBRANE FOULING AND CLEANING

TYPES OF FOULING ON UF MEMBRANES:

Cake formation

Pore blocking

Adsorption

Concentration Polarization

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MEMBRANE FOULING AND CLEANING

CLEANING MODES:
Backwash (BW)
Relaxation
Chemical Enhanced Backwash (CEB)
Clean-In-Place (CIP)

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MEMBRANE FOULING AND CLEANING

BACKWASHING

Reverse the flow of filtrate at higher flux for short duration to flush out foulants from membrane surface
and pores.
Effective against surface foulants, loose cake layer and partially effective against adsorbed foulants.

RELAXATION

Short stoppages of filtration. (air scouring may run concurrently).

Loosen cake layer and loosely attached foulants.

CHEMICAL ENHANCED BACKWASH

Chemical cleaning involving a short soak duration.

Effective against adsorbed foulants.

CLEAN-IN-PLACE

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Long duration, chemical cleaning involving recirculation-soak cycles.

Use for recovery cleaning or with specialised chemicals for particular foulants.

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MEMBRANE FOULING AND CLEANING

UF CLEANING CHEMICALS

* It is important to check back with UF supplier on chemical

compatibility and dosage
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TESTING AND VALIDATING

One of the main requirements of governments and drinking water
companies worldwide in providing drinking water: public safety
REQUIRED REMOVAL
Bacteria (e.g. Fecal bacteria)
Protozoa (e.g. Cryptosporidium and giardia)
Viruses (e.g. Enteric viruses like hepatitis)
DIRECTIVES
WHO
European directive
Long term 2 surface water treatment (USA)
APPROVALS
Potable water approvals: UK, USA, F, D, NL, AUS, JAP, CN, RU

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TESTING AND VALIDATING

EUROPEAN DIRECTIVE

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 98/83/EC on the quality of water intended

for human consumption (Drinking Water Directive or DWD)

For drinking water contact materials no harmonized EU

regulations yet.

Four EU Member States France, Germany, the Netherlands and

the United Kingdom Great Britain (4MS) announced in January
2011 that they have formalized arrangements to work together
on this important aspect of the regulatory frameworks they
have in place to ensure the hygienic safety of drinking water.

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TESTING AND VALIDATING

4MS
The 4MS intend to adopt common, or directly comparable,
practices for:

Acceptance of constituents used in materials in contact with

drinking water
(4MS Common Positive List(s))
Testing of materials
Use of common test methods and
setting acceptance levels
Specification of tests to be applied
to products
Reviewing factory production control
and setting audit testing requirements
Assessing the capabilities of
certification and testing bodies

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Transition
period several years, in the meantime still national
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TESTING AND VALIDATING

Validating for safe use: leaching of toxic chemicals
Leaching
USA
NSF Std.61 (membrane module)
UK
DWI reg.31 (membrane module)
WRAS (ancillaries)
F
ACS (membrane module plus chemicals)
D
KTW, W270 DVGW (membrane fibers)
NL
KIWA ata (membrane module)
CN
MoH (membrane module)
RU
Federal Service (membrane module)

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TESTING AND VALIDATING

Testing for removal efficiency of microbiology
Challenge Testing
USA:
CDPH approval as Alternative Filtration Technology
Demonstration study with membrane module to show
microbiological reduction of 0.5 m
microspheres (conservative
Cryptosporidium/Giardia
surrogate) and MS2 virus

In-house: Challenge testing with membrane module to show

microbiological
reduction of MS2 virus

Non-Destructive Performance Test (Intern)

Demonstrates the Cryptosporidium/Giardia removal capability of
the membrane module.
Diffusive Airflow Test
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TESTING AND VALIDATING

Testing during operation
Testing methods
Direct integrity testing:

Performance testing:

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pressure decay
airflow
spiking with indicator substance
non-spiked (naturally present matter)

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TESTING AND VALIDATING

Virus Like Particles (4.3 6.0
log)
versus
MS2 Phages (6.6 8.2 log)
VLP is conservative

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NEW DEVELOPMENTS

HF
W1
000
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UFC

col

or

Xiga
/ Aq
ua

flex

HOLLOW FIBER NANOFILTRATION

Virus Like particles

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Virus Like Particles (5.1 log)

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ULTRAFILTRATION
DRINKING WATER PRODUCTION

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ROETGEN, GERMANY

UF product flow rate 145.000 m3/d

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LOWER SELATAR WATER WORKS, SINGAPORE

UF product flow rate 260.000 m3/d

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GOTEBORG VATTEN, SWEDEN

UF product flow rate

186.000 m3/d
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THANK YOU FOR YOUR

ATTENTION!

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