In the last decade water treatment plants that utilize microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration
(UF) membrane systems have significantly increased in North America and around the
world. Decreasing installation costs, increasing knowledge in operating low pressure
membrane systems, and the number of competing new products in the marketplace, have
all contributed to the increase in the number of installations. Even though the low-pressure
membrane technology has gained wide acceptance in the drinking water industry and a
large number of successful plants are in service, a number of limitations still exist. Operation
of membrane plants still remain almost an art and the nature of some of the limitations such
as inefficient chemical cleanings cannot be easily determined. The quality of the feed water
dictates a careful selection of the right product (and operating parameters) and pretreatment
when membranes are considered for a plant. For certain water sources, installation of
MF/UF plants are not economically feasible. In this paper, cost curves (construction,
operation and maintenance) illustrate the break even points for
pretreatment options for plants with different flow ranges. Water quality data from a recent
pilot study and performance from full-scale plants is presented to develop flux rates
and the pretreatment requirements. Parametric cost tools and past plant cost data will be
used in developing curves for plants at various flow rates ranging from 10 MGD to 50 MGD. Includes 2 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 770 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 9 |
| Published : | 11/01/2009 |
