Precoating membranes with submicron super-fine powdered activated carbon after coagulation prevents transmembrane pressure rise: Straining and high adsorption capacity effects

Abstract

Commercially available powdered activated carbon (PAC) with a median diameter of 12–42 μm was ground into 1 μm sized superfine PAC (SPAC) and 200 nm sized submicron SPAC (SSPAC) and investigated as a pretreatment material for the prevention of hydraulically irreversible membrane fouling during a submerged microfiltration (MF) process. Compared with PAC and SPAC, SSPAC has a high capacity for selective biopolymer adsorption, which is a characteristic found in natural organic matter and is commonly considered to be a major contributor to membrane fouling. Precoating the membrane surface with SSPAC during batch filtration further removes the biopolymers by straining them out. In lab-scale membrane filtration experiments, an increase in the transmembrane pressure (TMP) was almost completely prevented through a precoating with SSPAC based on its pulse dose after coagulation pretreatment. The precoated SSPAC formed a dense layer on the membrane preventing biopolymers from attaching to the membrane. Coagulation pretreatment enabled the precoated activated carbon to be rinsed off during hydraulic backwashing. The functionality of the membrane was thereby retained for a long-term operation. Precoating the membranes with SSPAC after coagulation is a promising way to control membrane fouling, and efficiently prevents an increase in the TMP because of the straining effect of the SSPAC and the high capacity of the SSPAC to adsorb any existing biopolymers.