Abstract
The performance of conventional and advanced processes with regard to the reduction of the biopolymer fraction of natural organic matter (NOM) at two large adjacent full-scale drinking water treatment plants was compared and evaluated. Both plants were fed with the same surface water source, however, they differed in configuration and type of coagulant used. The biopolymer fraction, although of critical importance for low-pressure membrane fouling, is only a relatively small percentage of the overall NOM. Therefore, to provide context and comparison, the removal of humic substances, the largest NOM fraction, was also investigated. It was observed that the plant using aluminum sulfate slightly outperformed the one dosing polyaluminum chloride for biopolymer and humic substance removal when the coagulants were dosed at average concentrations of 0.68±0.23 mg Al/L and 1.10±0.63 mg Al/L, respectively. Under the conditions investigated, coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation may be a better pre-treatment option for ultrafiltration membranes in terms of biopolymer removal compared to ozonation and biofiltration. However, as confirmed by Liquid Chromatography-Organic Carbon Detection analysis, biopolymer removal through biofiltration with prior ozonation was less than expected, suggesting that the process pairing was not optimized. This research illustrates the value of biopolymer quantification with respect to assessing its impact on membrane fouling.
Published Version
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