The Effect of Preoxidation on Ultrafiltration Performance in Drinking Water Treatment

Membrane fouling due to foulants existing in the membrane feed water is an inevitable problem for ultrafiltration (UF) applied to water treatment. A bench‐scale study was undertaken to evaluate the anti‐fouling effect of different oxidants preoxidation on the dead‐end, constant flux UF of surface water. Furthermore, the mechanisms of membrane fouling by natural organic matter (NOM) were examined. The concept of UMFI (unified membrane fouling index) was applied to assess hydraulically reversible and irreversible fouling potential of UF membrane in the bench‐scale fouling studies. It was found that preoxidation greatly impacted the membrane fouling potential, which might be the result of changes of NOM characteristics. The transmembrane pressure (TMP) increased slightly and slowly with increasing dosage. The membrane fouled by preoxidation water was more amenable to chlorine‐induced permeability recovery, but it was contrary for hydraulically irreversible fouling. Therefore, preoxidation is a promising pret...