Removal of Silica and Humic Acid from Brackish Water with Calcite

Calcite를 이용한 brackish water 내의 실리카와 휴믹산의 제거에 관한 연구

Brackish water desalination using reverse osmosis(RO) membrane is more useful and economic than sea water to solve the shortage of fresh water supply because of its low total dissolved solid(TDS) contents. Silica and humic acid in brackish water make serious fouling problems and cause the decline of permeate flux and increase of operating pressure. In this study, the experiments for removal of silica and humic acid were conducted with calcite particles to prevent membrane fouling and investigated the effect of pH of feed water Adsorption of silica to calcite was higher at pH=7.5 than 9.5 and removal rate was increased according to increase of initial concentration of silica. The effect of pH on adsorption of humic acid was not significant but at low initial concentration the adsorption of humic acid was enhanced at pH 7.5. The result of this study expect to apply to brackish water desalination experiment of flat-sheet reverse osmosis membrane.