AWWA MTC64535

In December 2006, the world's largest ceramic membrane drinking water plant with a capacity of 10 MGD started operation in Hinogawa, Fukui, Japan. Treated water is provided for 170,000 people. The plant will expand up to 13.1MGD by 2010. NGK installed 18 filtration units that have a total of 1,800 ceramic membranes in Hinogawa plant. The membrane has 0.1micron pore size. NGK ceramic membrane is typically operated with coagulation pretreatment to enhance the filtrate water quality and stabilize operation. Surface water was used as the source water with an average raw water turbidity of about 10NTU. The turbidity spikes to greater than 100NTU 4 or 5 times in a year. Pilot testing was conducted from January to December of 2003 to optimize the operating condition. A stable operation of the NGK ceramic membrane was achieved throughout the pilot period. Includes 5 references, tables, figures.