Application of MlEX® pre-treatment for ultrafiltration membrane process for NOM removal and fouling reduction

In this study, pretreatment of organic matters with MIEX (R) was evaluated using bench-scale experimental procedures on three organic matters to determine its effect on subsequent UF or MF membrane filtration. For comparison, a coagulation process was also used as a pretreatment of UF or MF membrane filtration. Moreover, the membrane fouling potential was identified using different fractions and molecular weights (MW) of organic matter. From the removal property of MW organic matter by the coagulation process for the sample water NOM and AOM, the removal efficiencies of high MW organic matter were much higher than those of low MW organic matter. It was shown that the removal efficiency of high MW organic matter (more than 10 kDa) was lower than that of low MW organic matter for the MIEX (R) process. For the change of permeate flux by the pretreatment process, the MIEX (R)-UF process showed high removal efficiency of organic matter compared with the coagulation-UF processes, but a high reduction rate of permeate flux was presented through the reduction of removal efficiency of high MW organic matter. From sequential filtration test results to examine the effect of MW of organic matter on membrane fouling, we found that the membrane fouling occurred with high MW organic matter, and the DOC of organic matter less than 0.5 mg/L was acting as the membrane foulant. In sample water composed of low MW organic matter (less than 10 kDa), because the low MW organic matter of less than 10 kDa has a high removal efficiency by MIEX (R), a low reduction rate of permeate flux is obtained compared with the coagulation-UF processes. In summary, research on the physical/chemical characteristics of original water is needed before a membrane pretreatment process is selected, and a pertinent pretreatment process should be used based on the physical/chemical characteristics of the original water.