A Brief Note On Membrane Technologies And Its Effect On...

1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 PROBLEM STATEMENT Membrane technologies usually play a big role in wastewater treatment processes. Recently, due to the stricter regulation for drinking water quality, improvements of membrane materials and modules, smaller footprint, relative simplicity of installation, membrane technologies have drawn an increasing attention in water treatment processes [1]. Recent years, population growth, urbanization and industrialization has rapidly increased the clean water demand, however, the anthropogenic activities brought by these development, such as wastewater discharge, waste disposal and fertilization, has endangered the water supply by polluting water resources. Especial for the drinking water supply,†¦show more content†¦Membrane technology was firstly used for desalting purpose. In order to improve drinking water supply, sea water desalination has been employed in many coastal areas as a supply of high-quality water, without impairing natural freshwater ecosystems [3]. Membrane technology desalination facilities, based on reverse osmosis technology, has been employed past two decade to replace early large-scale thermal desalination which results in a large emission of greenhouse gases. At present, reverse osmosis is the most energy-efficient technology for seawater desalination and is the benchmark for comparison for any new desalination technology [3]. As the developing of the technology and increasing high quality water supply, some other pressure-driven membrane technologies have been employed for multiple purposes in water treatment industry, including desalting, disinfection by-product (DBP) control, disinfection (pathogen removal), clarification, and removal of inorganic and synthetic organic chemicals[2]. Besides this, other related membrane technologies, such as MBR technology, also have been employed to upgrade the conventional water treatment facilities to meet the higher water quality requirement. 2. APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGIES IN DRINKING WATER TREATMENT PROCESS During last few years, membrane technology has been widely accepted as a means of producing high quality clean water from variety of water resources. In addition to