Membrane Technology for Municipal Wastewater Systems

加拿大现有的城市污水处理厂（WWTP）可能面临新的污水处理挑战

Existing municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) in Canada may face challenges meeting new effluent discharge regulations for total suspended solids (TSS) and biological oxygen demand (BOD) under the CCME Canada Wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluent regulations. Wastewater utilities will be looking for alternative technologies in the coming years to meet more stringent national water quality standards for sewage treatment effluents. The use of membrane technology to treat secondary effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plants continues is an emerging field for systems that require tertiary treatment for potable and non-potable water reuse applications. The use of low-pressure membranes, specifically ultrafiltration (UF) modules may offer an alternative, cost effective approach to achieve superior water quality on treated effluents that can meet the new national discharge standards without major system upgrades or redesign of existing systems. UF membranes can provide an absolute barrier to particulate material as small as 0.01 µm which would achieve efficient removal of the target constituents that many current primary or secondary WWTP designs cannot consistently achieve. This 6-month research project will benefit municipal wastewater treatment sector by investigating at pilot-scale the effectiveness of using membrane technology on secondary effluent and determining the discharge water quality that can be achieved. Results of the study will provide new information that can be used by the wastewater industry to achieve target water qualities to meet new discharge standards and/or systems that are being designed/modified for water reclamation applications.