AWWA ACE65208

Increasing public interests in safer and cleaner drinking water, and the supply of high quality drinking water, have become high priorities for the Seoul metropolitan government. The microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) membrane processes for the removal of particulate matter (i.e., turbidity and microorganisms) may be used to achieve the required level of high water quality. To study the feasibility of introducing middle/large scale membrane filtration plants in Seoul, a field scale pilot test (2,500m3/day) was carried out by the Waterworks Research Institute of Seoul Metropolitan Government in the G Water Treatment Plant. Five different types of membrane systems (three pressure driven membrane systems and two vacuum driven ones) were installed in the pilot plant. Each plant had been optimized with pre/post treatment processes separately through the test. The finished water quality is stable even with high turbidity, algal blooms and low water temperature. Although the quality of effluent was stable, the trans-membrane pressure(TMP) increased continuously by turbidity and algal bloom. The authors concluded that optimized pretreatment (i.e., coagulation and/or sedimentation) processes must have been considered to reduce the increasing rate of TMP. The overall energy consumption of each system was different according to its pre- and post-treatment processes. The energy used only for the membrane process was within the range of 0.118-0.268 kWh/m³. The authors concluded that optimization of the pretreatment process is one of the most effective approaches to reduce the overall cost of operation of a membrane system. Includes 7 references, tables, figures.