Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration
As a low energy and chemical free process, gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration has shown a potential for seawater pretreatment in our previous studies. In this study, a pilot submerged GDM reactor (effective volume of 720 L) was operated over 250 days and the permeate flux stabilized at 18.6 ±...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2017
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80772 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/42224 |
| _version_ | 1824454560836485120 |
|---|---|
| author | Tan, Hwee Sin Hochstrasser, Florian Wu, Bing Christen, Tino Suwarno, Stanislaus Raditya Liu, Xin Chong, Tzyy Haur Burkhardt, Michael Pronk, Wouter Fane, Anthony Gordon |
| author2 | School of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Tan, Hwee Sin Hochstrasser, Florian Wu, Bing Christen, Tino Suwarno, Stanislaus Raditya Liu, Xin Chong, Tzyy Haur Burkhardt, Michael Pronk, Wouter Fane, Anthony Gordon |
| author_sort | Tan, Hwee Sin |
| collection | NTU |
| description | As a low energy and chemical free process, gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration has shown a potential for seawater pretreatment in our previous studies. In this study, a pilot submerged GDM reactor (effective volume of 720 L) was operated over 250 days and the permeate flux stabilized at 18.6 ± 1.4 L/m2h at a hydrostatic pressure of 40 mbar. This flux was higher than those in the lab-scale GDM reactor (16.3 ± 0.2 L/m2h; effective volume of 8.4 L) and in the filtration cell system (2.7 ± 0.6 L/m2h; feed side volume of 0.0046 L) when the same flat sheet membrane was used. Interestingly, when the filtration cell was submerged into the GDM reactor, the flux (17.2 L/m2h) was comparable to the submerged membrane module. Analysis of cake layer morphology and foulant properties indicated that a thicker but more porous cake layer with less accumulation of organic substances (biopolymers and humics) contributed to the improved permeate flux. This phenomenon was possibly associated with longer residence time of organic substances and sufficient space for the growth, predation, and movement of the eukaryotes in the GDM reactor. In addition, the permeate flux of the submerged hollow fibre membrane increased with decreasing packing density. It is thought that the movement of large-sized eukaryotes could be limited when the space between hollow fibres was reduced. In terms of pretreatment, the GDM systems effectively removed turbidity, viable cells, and transparent exopolymer particles from the feed seawater. Importantly, extending the reactor operation time produced a permeate with less assimilable organic carbon and biopolymers. Thus, the superior quality of the GDM permeate has the potential to alleviate subsequent reverse osmosis membrane fouling for seawater treatment. |
| first_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:24:16Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/80772 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-02-19T03:24:16Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/807722020-09-26T22:03:08Z Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration Tan, Hwee Sin Hochstrasser, Florian Wu, Bing Christen, Tino Suwarno, Stanislaus Raditya Liu, Xin Chong, Tzyy Haur Burkhardt, Michael Pronk, Wouter Fane, Anthony Gordon School of Civil and Environmental Engineering Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute Eukaryotes Gravity-driven membrane filtration As a low energy and chemical free process, gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration has shown a potential for seawater pretreatment in our previous studies. In this study, a pilot submerged GDM reactor (effective volume of 720 L) was operated over 250 days and the permeate flux stabilized at 18.6 ± 1.4 L/m2h at a hydrostatic pressure of 40 mbar. This flux was higher than those in the lab-scale GDM reactor (16.3 ± 0.2 L/m2h; effective volume of 8.4 L) and in the filtration cell system (2.7 ± 0.6 L/m2h; feed side volume of 0.0046 L) when the same flat sheet membrane was used. Interestingly, when the filtration cell was submerged into the GDM reactor, the flux (17.2 L/m2h) was comparable to the submerged membrane module. Analysis of cake layer morphology and foulant properties indicated that a thicker but more porous cake layer with less accumulation of organic substances (biopolymers and humics) contributed to the improved permeate flux. This phenomenon was possibly associated with longer residence time of organic substances and sufficient space for the growth, predation, and movement of the eukaryotes in the GDM reactor. In addition, the permeate flux of the submerged hollow fibre membrane increased with decreasing packing density. It is thought that the movement of large-sized eukaryotes could be limited when the space between hollow fibres was reduced. In terms of pretreatment, the GDM systems effectively removed turbidity, viable cells, and transparent exopolymer particles from the feed seawater. Importantly, extending the reactor operation time produced a permeate with less assimilable organic carbon and biopolymers. Thus, the superior quality of the GDM permeate has the potential to alleviate subsequent reverse osmosis membrane fouling for seawater treatment. EDB (Economic Devt. Board, S’pore) Accepted version 2017-04-04T04:26:33Z 2019-12-06T13:58:36Z 2017-04-04T04:26:33Z 2019-12-06T13:58:36Z 2017 2017 Journal Article Wu, B., Christen, T., Tan, H. S., Hochstrasser, F., Suwarno, S. R., Liu, X., et al. (2017). Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration. Water Research, 114, 59-68. 0043-1354 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80772 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/42224 10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.022 196385 en Water Research © 2017 Elsevier. This is the author created version of a work that has been peer reviewed and accepted for publication by Water Research, Elsevier. It incorporates referee’s comments but changes resulting from the publishing process, such as copyediting, structural formatting, may not be reflected in this document. The published version is available at: [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.022]. 44 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Eukaryotes Gravity-driven membrane filtration Tan, Hwee Sin Hochstrasser, Florian Wu, Bing Christen, Tino Suwarno, Stanislaus Raditya Liu, Xin Chong, Tzyy Haur Burkhardt, Michael Pronk, Wouter Fane, Anthony Gordon Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title | Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title_full | Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title_fullStr | Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title_full_unstemmed | Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title_short | Improved performance of gravity-driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment: Implications of membrane module configuration |
| title_sort | improved performance of gravity driven membrane filtration for seawater pretreatment implications of membrane module configuration |
| topic | Eukaryotes Gravity-driven membrane filtration |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/80772 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/42224 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tanhweesin improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT hochstrasserflorian improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT wubing improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT christentino improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT suwarnostanislausraditya improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT liuxin improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT chongtzyyhaur improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT burkhardtmichael improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT pronkwouter improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration AT faneanthonygordon improvedperformanceofgravitydrivenmembranefiltrationforseawaterpretreatmentimplicationsofmembranemoduleconfiguration |