Configuration of an efficient seawater pretreatment system for simultaneous organic and particulate matters removal

Abstract

In this study, the high-rate fibre filter (HRF) using the fibre media and the biological aerated filter (BAF) followed by granular media filter (GMF) using anthracite and granular activated carbon (GAC) was evaluated as an effective pre-treatment for simultaneous organic and particulate matter removal. As a result, the HRF bed was more effective in reducing particulate matters, while the BAF bed was effective in reducing conventional pollutants as well as particulate matters. The performance results of combined HRF/BAF/GMF system in terms of pollutants and headloss achieved 12–35% higher reduction and about 1.7 times slower development than those of the combined HRF/GMF system. The performance of combined HRF/BAF system (FV 30/3 m/h) followed by GAC filter (FV 5 m/h) showed an excellent removal results of >80% for organics and nutrients and >90% for particulate matters, which typically cause membrane biofouling and colloidal fouling. This reveals that combined HRF/BAF/GMF system is an effective pretreatme...