Optimisation of combined coagulation and microfiltration for water treatment

The effect of upstream coagulant dosing for full-flow microfiltration of an upland-reservoir water has been investigated. The process, run under conditions of constant flux and pH and based on a ferric salt, is compared with a published study of another full-flow process based on alum dosing and operated at constant pressure and coagulant concentration. The current study includes data for the residual deposit remaining following backflushing by reverse flow. Results are presented in terms of the specific-cake resistance (R′c, m−2) as a function of pH or coagulant dose. Reasonable correlation with classical cake filtration theory was obtained, such that R′c was assumed to be independent of run time and cake thickness. The following trends have been noted: • The optimum pH for the alum-based system appears to be between 7.5 and 8 on the basis of cake resistance. • The effect of coagulant dose between 18 and 71 μM Fe3+ is much more significant than a change in pH between 5 and 9 for the alum system: a 53-fold increase in specific flux compared with a 7-fold increase with reference to the limiting R′c values at pH 4.8 and 7.7. • A low coagulant dose (0.018 mM, 1.0 mg l−1 Fe3+) appears to have a slightly detrimental effect on downstream microfiltration operation. The low coagulant doses apparently cause incomplete aggregation of colloidal particles such that internal fouling of the membrane takes place. • The residual (cleaning cycle) deposit resistance followed roughly the same trend as the backflush cycle-cake resistance with coagulant concentration, but with a much reduced value (about 16 times lower, on average). • An optimum coagulant dose of 0.055 mM (3.1 mg/l) Fe3+ can be identified on the basis of operational cost based on coagulant cost and cake resistance, all other aspects of the system being substantially unchanged. It is concluded that coagulation with downstream microfiltration offers a cost-effective means of removing natural organic matter, achieving a THMFP removal of around 80% at the optimum dose.