1. Components
1.1. Membrane Unit
1.2. Disinfection Unit
1.3. Sludge Storage Tank
1.4. Discharge Tank
1.5. Nitrification Tank
1.6. Denitrification tank
1.7. Balancing Tank
2. Uses
2.1. Produce potable water by reverse osmosis
2.2. Clean industrial effluents
2.3. Recover valuable constituents
2.4. Fractionate macromolecular solutions in food
2.5. Remove toxins
2.6. Release drugs such as nitroglycerin in medical treatment
3. Membrane Processes
3.1. Dead-end filtration
3.1.1. feed flow is along the membrane surface, retained particles accumulate and thickness increases with filtration time, hence decreases permeation rate .
3.2. Cross-flow filtration
3.2.1. feed flow is along the membrane surface, part of retained solutes accumulate. Deposition of the solutes inside the pores of membrane and at the membrane surface called 'fouling'.
4. Operating Parameters
4.1. TMP( Transmembrane pressure)
4.1.1. hydrostatic pressure gradient across membrane. Driving force for mass transfer. Measured in bar/mbar
4.2. Permeability
4.2.1. extent to which membrane is permeable for specific component. Measured in L/m2/h/bar
4.3. Filtration Flux
4.3.1. Measured in L/m2/h
5. Advantages
5.1. Cost effective
5.2. Faster system start-ups
5.3. minimal generation of biosludge
5.4. small footprint
5.5. energy recovery
5.6. Quality improvement
5.7. minimal operating labour
6. Membrane Types
6.1. Flat Membrane
6.2. Tubular Membrane
6.2.1. Hollow Fibre
6.2.1.1. Diameter < 0.5mm
6.2.2. Capillary
6.2.2.1. Diameter 0.5- 5mm
6.2.3. Tubular
6.2.3.1. Diameter < 5mm
7. Disadvantages
7.1. Concentration Polarisation
7.2. Fouling
7.3. Short membrane life-time
7.4. low selectivity
8. Configurations
8.1. Submerged
8.1.1. Coarse Bubble diffuser
8.1.2. Reduce build up material at surface
8.1.3. maintain flux and increase operation life
8.2. Sidestream
8.2.1. Fine bubble diffuser
8.2.2. high operational flux
8.2.3. Rigorous cleaning required and reduced life
9. Membrane Technology Categories
9.1. Micro Filtration
9.1.1. Filtration by particle size and membrane size is about 0.1 - 10 um
9.2. Ultra Filtration
9.2.1. filters molecules of specific size and weight, membrane size 1λ -0.01 um
9.3. Nano filtration
9.3.1. partial desalination, membrane size 10λ - 0.001 um
9.4. Reverse osmosis
9.4.1. Complete desalination, membrane size 10λ - 0.001 um
9.5. Electro Dialysis
9.5.1. used to separate ions from water solutions by the effect of a difference of electric potential