BIOLOGICAL POWDERED ACTIVATED CARBON (BPAC) MICROFILTRATION FOR WASTE-WATER RECLAMATION AND REUSE

The experiment was conducted to evaluate a biological powdered activat ed carbon (BPAC) microfiltration (MF) system as an alternative for was tewater reclamation and reuse. A synthetic secondary sewage effluent c ontains refractory organic compounds such as humin, tannin, lignin, pr otein and high molecular carbohydrates as well as coliphage Q beta as a mode]. virus, The system performance was investigated at the activat ed carbon concentration of 20 g/l, water temperature 25 degrees C and transmembrane pressure of 55 kPa, It was noted that organic removal oc curred mainly at the membrane module, This was caused by the accumulat ion of the powdered activated carbon in the membrane module. The avera ge organic removal efficiency was 83%, resulting in an effluent TOC co ncentration of 1-2 mg/l. The performance of the process did not deteri orate at water temperature of 15 degrees C, showing an organic removal efficiency of 89.6%. It was estimated that the higher removal efficie ncy at lower water temperature was mainly due to the less self-degrada tion of microorganisms because the permeate flux of the membrane was m aintained at the same level by increasing the transmembrane pressure u p to 80 kPa. The removal of virus by the BPAC-MF system was significan t. From the mass balance at steady state, 99.9997% of fed coliphage Q beta was removed from the system. Especially coliphage Q beta showed a strong adsorbability on powdered activated carbon (PAC). For 1 h cont act with PAC, the removal of Q beta was 99.999% even at PAC concentrat ions of 0.55 g/l. It was obvious that the virus removed was inactivate d in the system.