Access to critical water supplies is an absolute requirement in austere locations with physical or economic water scarcity. Increasing complexity of logistics and costs to transport water in addition to climate change are driving the development and demonstration of decentralized water treatment units. In this study, the direct filtration via ultrafiltration (UF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membrane technologies with a disinfection step was evaluated for the potential reuse of low strength graywater from shower facilities over a period of six months. This is one of the largest and most comprehensive source-separated graywater sampling events to date with more than 100,000 gallons of source separated graywater samples. Water was collected from post human contact shower sampling events supplied by two training battalions. The combined treatment train of UF and RO met compliance metrics for all analytes of interest for potability and met non-potable metrics except for special use cases in three states. UF/RO not only addresses issues with water quality, but water quantity as well. A water recovery rate of 85% multiplies the effective volume of usable water by a factor of 6.5, creating a significant reduction in volume required. Both the quality of the treated water and the effective volume gains from the multiplier effect make decentralized treatment of source separated graywater by UF/RO a viable technology to address physical and economical water scarcity.

Employing ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis (UF/RO) for treatment of source separated graywater

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.