Membrane Concentrate Thickening by Hollow-fiber Microfilter in Drinkin Water Treatment Processes

A novel system to thicken the concentrated colloidal solution from membrane water treat-ment processes was developed. A hollow-fiber microfilter(hydrophilic polyethylene nominal pore size 0.1 μm total surface area 0.42 m2) was installed in an acrylic housing that has an aeration port 5 cm below the membrane and a clarifier in the bottom. The concentrate was uniformly supplied from the top of the housing. Bacuum filtration caused downward flow of concentrate and as a result thickening interface. The addition of poly-aluminum chloride (PAC) resulted in rapid increase of trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and in no improvement of the filtered water turbidity and thickening process. Two types of con-centrate and concentrate turbidity had little effect on the increase of TMP and concentrate thickening. It was observed that for the same height of membrane housing membrane surface area to housing volume (A/V) ratio had significant effect on the increase of TMP. When the housing volume was increased ten times the increasing rate of TMP was three times faster as compared to the original housing. A hydraulic model successfully simulated the formation and sedimentation of thickening interface.