Engineered Biofiltration for Ultrafiltration Fouling Control and DBP Precursor Removal

• Main Author: Azzeh, Jamal
• Other Authors: Andrews, Robert C.
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: Biofiltration; Biological Filtration; 0543
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/65534

Recently, treatment plants have adopted biofiltration to compliment conventional treatment and ozonation. Previous literature has focused on passive applications of biofiltration. In this study, several pilot-scale biofiltration trains were designed in parallel to conventional treatment to investigate the impact of nutrient addition (nitrogen and phosphorus), use of hydrogen peroxide, aluminum sulphate (alum), and different filtration media (anthracite vs. granular activated carbon (GAC)) on biofiltration performance. Parameters measured included organic removal, reduction of DBP precursor, improvements in filter runtimes and ultrafiltration (UF) fouling control. Nutrient addition did not improve biofiltration performance. Supplementing hydrogen peroxide (<1 mg/L) decreased headloss, DBP formation potentials while adversely affecting UF fouling. In-line alum addition (<0.5 mg/L) improved biofilter’s ability to control fouling and DBP precursor without adversely impacting headloss. GAC provided superior performance when compared to anthracite. Conventional treatment provided higher DOC, and DBP precursor removal, as well as better UF fouling control compared to biofiltration.