An Overview Of Membrane Systems

Posted by Brett Slansky | 3:56 AM | 0 comments »

By Leslie Ball


Recently, technological advancements have led to the rise in wastewater treatment breakthroughs and water reuse reclamation. In this progress, membrane systems is also included. It has stood up to be a very essential innovation in reclamation and treatment and also to being among the leading upgrade and expansion in the wastewater plants.

The early usage of the membrane wastewater treatment was in practice about thirty years ago. However, in the past decade, a rapid increase in volume of wastewater being treated has been experienced to be of exponentially high standards and it is typically for reuse purpose. As a matter of fact, many municipal facilities on wastewater treatment are adopting this technology to an even larger magnitude as the technology provides unparalleled ability to meet rigorous requirements.

Since this process has the ability of separating at molecular levels up to the point where particles can be seen, it hence implies that larger amounts of separation requirements are able to be met through this membrane processes. The technology at most time does not require phase changes so as to make separations. As a result, energy needs become relatively low unless there may be a need for large energy amounts to increase the pressure of the steam needed to drive permeating components across the membrane.

The ability of membranes to remove stubborn contaminants that become difficult for other technologies to remove makes the membranes to uniquely tower above the others as a great option. They are very economical in costs in comparison to other alternatives. They in addition need only very minimal land area compared to other competing brands. Ability to replace several treatment processes units using just a single unit has made this a possibility.

For applications in wastewater treatment, membranes are in the current times being used as tertiary advanced treatment in the removal of species that have dissolved. Such species include, organic compounds, nitrogen species, phosphorous, human pathogens, among others. Technologies using the membranes include; membranes bioreactors, low-pressure membranes and the high-pressure membranes.

Among the major challenge posed by usage of membranes in wastewater treatment is high potential fouling. This kind of fouling is normally caused by colloids, tiny organisms that have not been properly removed by the regular pretreatment methods, and also some soluble organic compounds. The fouling usually increase feed pressure leading to need for frequent cleanup of the membrane.

The above leads to efficiency reduction and also shorter life span of membranes. Addition technical barriers that may result include complexity and high costs for disposing concentrate or residual from membranes that are filled with high pressure. To add on, membranes may possess chemical incompatibilities with solution process and can lead to the system being weak to an extent that their lifetime becomes unacceptably short.

Adaptation of wastewater treatment by the use of membranes is on the increase. The option is not only viable but in most cases also a smart move especially when considering to upgrade plants and expanding capacity. This approach is beneficial in land lock situations such as agriculture, urban or industrial reuse; recharge of groundwater and salinity barriers; and also in the augmentation of mobile water supplies that meet low effluent nutrients.




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