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Low-pressure membrane processes including ultrafiltration (UF) and microfiltration (MF) are becoming increasingly popular for clarification and microbial reduction in the water and wastewater treatment industries. Currently, one of the most important issues in the practical application of these processes involves the methods of monitoring the integrity of the membrane and the process. Integrity monitoring is required to assure consistent produced water quality and proper regulatory acceptance. Various membrane integrity methods and tools have previously been analyzed at pilot scale, representing systems with flow rates on the order of 101 gallons per minute (gpm). However, the effects of integrity breaches in full-scale membrane systems, which typically employ flow rates on the order of 102 to 103 gpm, are different due to much higher dilution rates. Thus, there is a need to analyze membrane integrity monitoring methods in detail based on results derived from full-scale testing and validation. The work presented here is being performed as part of an ongoing AwwaRF research project on integrity testing of low-pressure membrane processes. The study includes a survey of integrity monitoring methods at various membrane plants, and testing of various integrity monitoring methods at full-scale at selected water treatment plants. The testing is being performed at six participant membrane plants representing different membrane systems. At the time of writing this manuscript, the testing at the fourth plant in the sequence was completed. This paper presents results from the ongoing research project. Results from a survey on the usage of integrity monitoring methods are presented. A summary of existing membrane integrity monitoring tools and methods is also presented. Includes 7 references, tables, figures.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 11/01/2002 Number of Pages: 8 File Size: 1 file , 280 KB