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Application of nanofiltration/reverse osmosis membranes to textile effluents aiming its reclamation and reuse: Influence of operating conditions

Abstract:

Textile industry generates large amounts of wastewater with high chemical complexity. Owing to the demanding environmental legislation, textile sector is forced to introduce innovative water treatment methods, such as membrane technologies. This work studies the influence of operating conditions such as feed concentration and transmembrane pressure on a final stage of nanofiltration/reverse osmosis treating the raw effluent from a textile mill. The results show a linear relation between pressures and permeate flux for the lowest pressures. At the highest pressures tested, critical or limiting flux may be reached and efficiency decreases. The increase in the feed concentration involves a decrease in the permeate flux for both membranes. Regarding membranes rejection, the best overall results are achieved at 15 bar for the ESNA1-LF2 with COD and TOC removals of 94 % and 84 %, respectively, whereas conductivity is reduced in a 77 %. Almost complete pollutants removal (>94 %) is achieved by means of the LFC1 although the best overall results are obtained at 20 bar. Complete color and turbidity removal is achieved by both membranes. Copyright © 2010 AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.