Process efficiency assessment of turbidity removal from tigris river using microfiltration membranes

The current study aims to use microfiltration membrane units instead of using traditional treatment methods (flocculation and coagulation) to enhance water treatment efficiency and lower operational and fixed costs. Specifically, it explores using a polypropylene membrane with a pore size of 1 mu m and a ceramic membrane with a pore size of 0.5 mu m to remove turbidity, total suspended solid TSS, and Escherichia coli bacteria from the Tigris River water within Baghdad. An experimental study compared the removal efficiency of real and simulated Tigris River water with different turbidity for polypropylene and ceramic membranes. Operational parameters such as initial turbidity concentration, temperature, flow rate, and membrane fouling were studied as a function of time. Also, two operating methods, dead-end, and crossflow, were discussed regarding the removal efficiency of suspended solids, turbidity, and Escherichia coli bacteria 65 %, 91 %, and 99 %, respectively, for the polypropylene membrane. And 75 %, 97 %, and 100 % for the ceramic membrane. The results of the current study indicate that ceramic membranes are the most susceptible to contamination by fouling, but at the same time, they are the most resistant and have the highest rate of removal efficiency than the polypropylene membrane. In addition, the crosse flow operation is better than the dead-end operation and is also considered a way to reduce the fouling that occurs in the membrane filtration. Microfiltration in general can achieve economic profit and minimal environmental impact, and ceramic microfiltration membranes in particular can achieve high-quality water.