Development of a membrane-based process for the treatment of oily waste waters. [Quarterly] report, December 5, 1992--March 4, 1993

Abstract

This is the fourth quarterly report covering December 5, 1992, to March 4, 1993. The overall goal of this program is to develop a system based on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes that can treat oily water economically. This system will be based on the use of thin-film-composite (TFC) membranes that consist of a selective coating placed on a solvent-resistant hollow-fiber support. For this program, we plan to develop solvent-resistant hollow-fiber supports and coat them with a ``loose RO`` coating. We developed the coating, which is designated TTM, in previous work for the treatment of oily waste waters. During this reporting period, work was focused on (1)fabrication and testing of large-scale hollow-fiber modules, (2)performing preliminary field tests using these modules, and (3)arranging for a demonstration test of this technology. Our results show that the solvent-resistant TTM hollow-fiber modules perform well when operated on oily waters. During the next reporting period, we plan to complete arrangements for the demonstration test of this technology. This field test, preparation of the final report, and technology transfer are the only tasks remaining in this program.