Coagulation & Ultra-filtration of Laundry Waste Waters using the Shower Water Reuse System (SWRS)
Abstract
The objective was to determine the optimal coagulation conditions for pre-treating laundry waste water before microfiltration (MF) when using the Army's Shower Water Reuse System (SWRS). In bench-scale tests, low doses of low molecular-weight epichlorohydrin/dimethylamine (epi/DMA) polymer produced the most rapid increase in zeta-potential, low specific resistance to filtration, low coefficient of compressibility, good removal of contaminants, and substantially decreased fouling of MF membranes. The critical flux was increased from 50 L m-2h-1 for no coagulant to 510 L m-2h-1 for the CN condition, indicating the possibility of decreased footprint for the mobile treatment unit. Multi-cycle tests (up to 15 cycles of MF operation followed by backwashing) confirmed that hydraulic cleaning removed fouling when the system was operated with sub-critical flux . Full-scale tests with the SWRS demonstrated easy application of the epi/DMA polymer under field conditions, good removal of contaminants from laundry waste water, and negligible fouling of the MF. Additional tests showed that dead-end filtration (as used in the SWRS) resulted in less fouling than cross-flow filtration for laundry waste water, especially for operating times used in the SWRS between hydraulic cleanings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 19, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA602659
Entities
People
- Brian Dempsey
Organizations
- Pennsylvania State University