Treatment of Spent Filter Backwash Water – Ceramic and polymer membrane in comparison

Abstract

During groundwater treatment, 1–4 % of drinking water is lost for filter backwashing. In this pilot study, submerged polymeric and ceramic ultrafiltration membranes were compared for treatment of spent filter backwash water. The treatment performance was very high for both systems, with retention rates for iron above 99 % and TOC above 90 %. While the conventional polymeric hollow fiber membrane can be operated long-term at a filtrate flux of 40 L/(m2
∙h), the alternative system with ceramic membrane allows a higher flux of 150 L/(m2∙h)