Novel insight into secondary effluent quality improvement and ultrafiltration fouling mitigation by UV/peracetic acid pretreatment

Ultrafiltration (UF) technology is widely used in the treatment for deep purification of municipal secondary effluent, however, the membrane fouling and low removal of N, P, and organic matter during actual operation have been the main bottlenecks limiting its wide-spread application. To address the above problems, this study employed peracetic acid (PAA) and UV/PAA to evaluate the effects of PAA-based pre-oxidation on ultrafiltration membrane fouling and secondary effluent water quality. The results demonstrated that the activated PAA preoxidation could prominently enhance the hydrophilicity of effluent organic matter, effectively destroy the high molecular weight organic matter and mineralize the low molecular weight organic matter. PAA and its metabolites, as well as the by-products of EfOM, increased the C/P ratio in water samples from 118 to 563 and the C/N ratio from 0.86 to 8.53. After UV/20 mg/L PAA pretreatment, the reversible and irreversible membrane fouling resistance significantly decreased by 55.97 % and 65.67 %, respectively. Moreover, the extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory showed lower adhere potential of the foulants to the membrane surface. In general, UV/PAA as ultrafiltration pretreatment has a huge potential for secondary effluent treatment for membrane fouling mitigation and water quality improvement.

Automated summary

This study found that PAA pre-oxidation can effectively reduce membrane fouling and improve water quality in ultrafiltration. After UV/PAA pretreatment, both the reversible and irreversible fouling resistance of the membrane decreased significantly, and the adherence potential of foulants to the membrane surface decreased.