In this pilot-scale project for indirect potable reuse, more than 300 organic, inorganic, and biological parameters were analyzed for two parallel treatment trains. The first train consisted of the traditional units of ultrafiltration (UF), reverse osmosis (RO), and an advanced oxidation process (AOP) using hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet radiation. The second train replaced the UF with a membrane bioreactor (MBR), followed by RO and the same AOP. Due to biological activity in the MBR and operational differences between the UF and MBR, differences between the two effluents were observed for several parameters including nitrogen species, alkalinity, alkyphenols and alkylphenol ethoxylates, halogenated methanes, and nitrosamines. Some of these differences disappeared after RO, which removed most analytes to below reporting limits, but differences remained for the nitrogen species, alkalinity and halogenated methanes. A small but statistically significant difference was also observed between the two trains for AOP treatment of some trace compounds.

Comparing traditional UF-RO-AOP to MBR-RO-AOP for treatment of recycled water for indirect potable reuse

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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