Effects of coconut granular activated carbon pretreatment on membrane filtration in a gravitational driven process to improve drinking water quality

• Autor(a) principal: Silva, Flávia Vieira da
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Yamaguchi, Natália Ueda, Lovato, Gilselaine Afonso, Silva, Fernando Alves da, Reis, Miria Hespanhol Miranda, Amorim, M. T. Pessoa de, Tavares, Célia Regina Granhen, Bergamasco, Rosangêla
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/1822/15103
• topic: Water quality; Activated carbon; Membrane; Science & Technology

This study evaluates the performance of a polymeric microfiltration membrane, as well as its combination with a coconut granular activated carbon (GAC) pretreatment, in a gravitational filtration module, to improve the quality of water destined to human consumption. The proposed membrane and adsorbent were thoroughly characterized using instrumental techniques, such as contact angle, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analyses. The applied processes (membrane and GAC + membrane) were evaluated regarding permeate flux, fouling percentage, pH and removal of Escherichia coli, colour, turbidity and free chlorine. The obtained results for filtrations with and without GAC pretreatment were similar in terms of water quality. GAC pretreatment ensured higher chlorine removals, as well as higher initial permeate fluxes. This system, applying GAC as a pretreatment and a gravitational driven membrane filtration, could be considered as an alternative point-of-use treatment for water destined for human consumption.