Evaluation of ferrate as a coagulant aid/oxidant pretreatment for mitigating submerged ultrafiltration membrane fouling in drinking water treatment

• Applying ferrate as a coagulant aid/oxidant with FeCl3 mitigated membrane fouling.
• The extent of membrane fouling was in the following order: FeCl3/K2FeO4 < FeCl3 < K2FeO4 ≪ none.
• The rate of membrane fouling by FeCl3/K2FeO4 was 4.5 times lower than that with FeCl3.

Although pre-coagulation can mitigate ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling in the treatment of surface waters for drinking water supply, biological activities (‘biofouling’) can induce a continuous increase in membrane fouling. To meet this challenge, potassium ferrate, K2FeO4, a combined oxidant and coagulant, was evaluated as a pre-treatment chemical for controlling submerged UF membrane fouling in water treatment. Ferrate use as an alternative to- (phase 1: ∼23 days), and in combination with- (phase 2: ∼30 days), conventional FeCl3, have been studied using parallel continuous bench-scale submerged membrane systems, using FeCl3 as the reference. The poorer performance of ferrate (alone) as a pre-treatment compared to FeCl3 (phase 1) was the result of a lower coagulation efficiency, which outweighed the beneficial impact of the ferrate on bacterial inactivation. The net reduction in pre-treatment performance led to an increase in the concentration of residual, active bacteria in the membrane tank, and bacteria associated large molecular weight (MW) organic substances, such as extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) or biopolymers, which were the principal cause of the higher rate of membrane fouling observed. In contrast, ferrate performed best as a coagulant aid/oxidant (FeCl3/K2FeO4) (phase 2), with the rate of membrane fouling (increase in transmembrane pressure) 4.5 times lower than conventional FeCl3 pre-treatment. This pre-treatment arrangement resulted in less bacteria (and EPS) and suspended solids in the membrane tank, and less accumulation of materials in the cake layer and within the membrane pores. The results indicated clearly the potential benefit of applying ferrate as a coagulant aid/oxidant with a coagulant, in UF pre-treatment, with the control of bacteria and EPS a key factor in reducing membrane fouling.