%0 Journal Article
%T Ultrafiltration (UF) Pilot Plant for Municipal Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture: Impact of the Operation Mode on Process Performance
%A Dario Falsanisi
%A Lorenzo Liberti
%A Michele Notarnicola
%J Water
%D 2010
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/w2040872
%X Following increasing interest in the use of UltraFiltration (UF) membrane processes as an alternative advanced disinfection technique, the performance of a UF pilot plant was investigated under two opposite operating conditions (ˇ°stressed operating conditionˇ± versus ˇ°conventional operating conditionˇ±). The results indicate that for both conditions, the reclaimed effluent complied with the Italian regulations for unrestricted wastewater reuse (i.e., Total Suspended Solids (TSS) < 10 mg/L; Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) < 100 mg/L and Escherichia coli < 10 CFU/100 mL). On the other hand, when compared with the Title 22 of the California Wastewater Reclamation Criteria, only the effluent produced under the ˇ°conventional operating conditionˇ± met the stipulated water quality standards (i.e., TSS and turbidity undetectable and total coliforms < 2.2 CFU/100 mL). It should be noted that, in spite of the nominal cut-off size, total coliforms breakthrough was indeed occasionally observed. A localized membrane pore micro-enlargement mechanism was hypothesized to explain the total coliforms propagation in the ultrafiltered effluent, as monitoring of the membrane permeability and transmembrane pressure highlighted that gel/cake formation had only a minor contribution to the overall membrane fouling mechanism with respect to pore plugging and pore narrowing mechanisms.
%K ultrafiltration
%K wastewater reclamation
%K membrane fouling
%K process monitoring
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/2/4/872