Removal of DDT in drinking water using nanofiltration process Original Research Article

The removal of DDT[(1,1-bis(4-chlorophenyl)-2,2,2-trichloroethane)] with synthetic waters was carried out on a nanofiltration (NF) pilot unit. The influence of initial DDT concentration, pH, flux and recovery on the removal of DDT was studied. The presence of humic acid and some inorganic (CaCl2, NaCl, and CaSO4) matters was also tested in the experiment. The removal percent and that of their adsorption on the membrane have been calculated. The results reveal that DDT was easy to be adsorbed on the membranes and the higher the applied pressure the more rapidly saturation of the membrane was achieved. At the initial concentration of 77 μg/L, the equilibrium for DDT adsorption can be achieved in 30 min. With the initial DDT concentration from 5 to 20 μg/L, the removal percent was from 95 to 85%. On condition that recovery was not changed, higher flux can lead to low rejection of DDT. On the other hand, low recovery can have a high rejection when the fluxes were the same. Humic acid can hinder DDT from passing through the membrane by adsorption and inorganic matter (NaCl, CaCl2 and CaSO4) can improve the removal percent by reducing the pore size of the membrane.