Pilot-Scale Evaluation of Chemical Cleaning Protocols for Organic and Biologically Fouled Microfiltration Membranes
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136, Issue 5
Abstract
The Edward C Little Water Recycling Facility (ECLWRF) is the largest high-purity water recycling facility in the United States. Here, microfiltration (MF) membranes play a critical role in treating the secondary effluent and serving as pretreatment to the downstream reverse osmosis systems. New chemical clean-in-place (CIP) formulations were evaluated through pilot-scale tests for their ability to improve the performance restoration for the Phase III continuous MF (CMF) membranes at the ECLWRF. Membrane autopsies found that the primary fouling mechanisms for the CMF membranes were biological and organic in origin. It was also determined that the current CIP protocol provided an incomplete removal of the biological and organic foulants. The cleaning test results found that the current CIP regime for the Phase III system performed better than the four commercially available cleaning solutions evaluated here. However, improved results were obtained when hydrogen peroxide was added to the current CIP regime consisting of caustic soda and the commercially available Memclean C cleaning solution. The effects of the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the standard cleaning procedure shows some promise; however, further research is needed to understand the cleaning mechanisms and long-term effects of using hydrogen peroxide as a cleaning additive.
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Acknowledgments
The writers acknowledge the efforts contributed by Al Vetrovs at the HDR Applied Research and Technology Center for assistance in the membrane autopsy and Dr. YuJung Chang, HDR’s National Director for Advanced Water Treatment for technical guidance during this project. This project was made by possible by funding from the West Basin Municipal Water District and California Proposition 13, administered by the Department of Water Resources. The writers thank Mark Benjamin from the University of Washington for conducting the SEM-EDAX experiments and analyses and Zachery Hendren of Duke University for the FTIR tests.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 136 • Issue 5 • May 2010
Pages: 542 - 553
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: May 14, 2009
Accepted: Nov 2, 2009
Published online: Nov 4, 2009
Published in print: May 2010
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