AWWA MTC61114

In an effort to increase plant efficiency and recover more product water while reducing sewer discharge of concentrate waste and associated sewer fees, Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) evaluated increasing the overall system recovery of its Deep Aquifer Treatment Facility (DATS). The DATS, an 8-mgd (30280m³/day) nanofiltration (NF) plant utilizes a negatively charged, organic selective membrane that was specifically manufactured to remove natural color causing organics with low salt rejection. To increase the current system recovery of 92 percent, a pilot study was conducted to evaluate treatment of the concentrate waste stream with ultrafiltration or nanofiltration membranes. This paper presents an overview of the pilot test, membrane selection process, and results. Includes 5 references, tables, figure.