Pressure driven membrane techniques in the treatment of water containing THMs

The paper presents the investigations concerning membrane treatment of water containing chloroform. Reverse osmosis (RO), nanofiltration (NF) and ultrafiltration (UF) techniques were applied. Removal degrees of chloroform and flux drop during membrane filtration were determined. Basing on the results of flux-time relationship, two models for flux drop have been adapted: resistance model and Hermii model. It was stated that RO, NF and UF could be used for THMs removal from water and the proposed models are suitable to describe the change of permeate flux during membrane filtration.

1. The carried out investigation studies on the elimination of chloroform from natural water demonstrated the possibility to apply membranes RO-SS10, NF-MQ16 and UF-HP09 for the removal of this pollutant from waters. The most efficient removal of chloroform was effected in the UF process. 2. The yield of the process depended on the type of applied membrane filtration process. 3. The permeate flux for investigated membranes can be predicted with good congruence using hydraulic resistance model of filtration and the model elaborated by Hermia, which provided also the means to define the mechanism of pore blocking.