Effects of high turbidity inflow on PAC contactor operation and strategy for membrane fouling control in PMR (PAC membrane retrofitting) process

ABSTRACT Recently, global climate change has led to more frequent droughts and torrential rains. It could be reason of unexpected bad effects for water treatment such as taste and odor problems and decreasing of removal efficiencies. In case of membrane process, the inflow of high turbid raw water due to heavy rains may bring sudden increase in the membrane fouling caused by thick and dense cake formation on the membrane surface. Therefore, preparing proper operation methods is necessary for preventing system shutdown due to the membrane fouling, when high turbidity raw water is introduced. Powdered activated-carbon (PAC) membrane retrofitting (PMR) process has been developed as a hybrid process of coarse powder activated carbon (C-PAC) contactor with slurry blanket and submerged membrane for advanced drinking water treatment. PMR pilot plant was installed at W water treatment plant in Korea. Surface water was directly introduced to the plant as raw water. An ultrafiltration membrane module (ZeeWeed® 500C...