NAMS 2002 Workshop - ICOM 2008

the desalination plant is lessened and two significant barriers are in place to
reject contaminants present in the impaired/reclaimed stream.
Recent progress in research has demonstrated that FO can be successfully
implemented in a wide range of applications including wastewater treatment
(e.g., landfill leachate, anaerobic digester sludge, and life support systems),
desalination (e.g., seawater and brackish water), and pharmaceutical and food
industries. Yet, very limited research has been conducted on the direct
combination of desalination and impaired water reclamation; specifically with
regards to trace organic rejection. Therefore, the main objectives of the currently
AwwaRF-funded study are threefold: (1) investigate the performance (e.g., water
flux; solute and solid rejections) and potential limitations of FO membranes for
pretreatment of impaired/reclaimed water, (2) investigate the mechanisms behind
the mass transport of organic contaminants across the membrane, and (3)
develop recommendations and cost estimates for a FO/RO hybrid for the
simultaneous treatment of impaired and saline water.
The process is tested on both bench and pilot scale. The bench scale setup is
comprised of a custom built flat sheet FO membrane cell (0.07 m 2 ), and a SEPA-
CF flat sheet RO membrane cell for desalination of seawater. Following the
bench-scale study, pilot-scale testing of the process is conducted in several
wastewater reclamation facilities. Several water quality parameters are being
measured including TOC (Shimatzu HTCO), anions (IC), and cations (ICP).
Because measuring the rejection of specific micropollutants is difficult in highly
saline solutions, an existing HPLC method is being modified using solid phase
extraction.