Direct wastewater membrane filtration for advanced particle removal from raw wastewater

Direct filtration techniques were applied for fast and advanced particle removal in the pre-treatment of municipal wastewater, in order to optimise the total wastewater treatment system. Pilot-scale research into direct membrane ultrafiltration of raw wastewater indicated that this technique might be feasible. There was an average normalised production flux of 300 l/m(2).h.bar at a TMP of 0.2 to 0.4 bar and a cross flow rate of 2.4 m/s. Removal performances were excellent with all suspended and colloidal substances being removed by the membranes with pore size of 30 nm Furthermore the influence of the cross flow rate, the applied TMP and the cleaning procedure on the filtration performance was investigated. It was concluded that direct membrane filtration shows potential for wastewater treatment.