Application of Membrane Distillation for Secondary Effluent Treatment towards Water Recovery

Authors

Corressponding author's email:

mainq@hcmute.edu.vn

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54644/jte.2024.1591

Keywords:

Membrane distillation (MD), Secondary effluent, Permeate flux, Organic foulants, Inorganic foulants

Abstract

This paper presented the application of Direct Contact Membrane Distillation (DCMD) for the treatment of the secondary effluent of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to produce fresh water. The purification studies conducted at various feed temperatures demonstrated that the permeate water flux increased and that the water flux decreased quickly at the higher feed temperature. However, the electrical conductivity of permeate remained consistent at about 2.0 μS/cm. The majority of pollutants found in the secondary effluent, including SS, COD, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, and total coliform, were entirely eliminated throughout the MD treatment process using a bi-composite membrane made of polytetrafluoroethylene and polypropylene at different feed stream temperatures. Ammonia had a limited rate of rejection, though. Protein and organic/inorganic aggregates made up the majority of the foulants were found on the membrane surface, not the inner pores. The long-term test, which involved an 18-day operation with a feed solution concentration of ten times, revealed that no wetness issue was seen despite a notable foulant deposit and reduction in water flux.

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Author Biography

Quynh Mai Nguyen, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Vietnam

Nguyen Quynh Mai received the B.E. degree in Environmental Engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam, in 2006; the M.S. degree in Environmental Technology from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam, in 2009; the Ph.D. degree in Energy and Environment Engineering from University of Science and Technology (UST), Republic of Korea, in 2015. From 2015 to 2017, she was a Post-Doc scholar at Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Republic of Korea. From 2019 to 2020, she was a Research Professor in Dankook University, Republic of Korea. She is currently a Lecturer at the Faculty in Chemical and Food Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her research focuses on membrane technologies applied for water and wastewater treatment, environmental materials from agro-food by-products and hydrogen energy. Email: mainq@hcmute.edu.vn. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0112-0825.

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Published

28-12-2024

How to Cite

[1]
Quynh Mai Nguyen, “Application of Membrane Distillation for Secondary Effluent Treatment towards Water Recovery”, JTE, vol. 19, no. Special Issue 05, pp. 21–30, Dec. 2024.