Study of integrated membrane systems for the treatment of wastewater from cooling towers

Seventy to eighty percent of industrial water is cooling water, and cooling systems let off much wastewater every day. It is worthful to treat and reuse the wastewater from cooling towers. A study was undertaken to evaluate the efficiency of the combined processes, known as integrated membrane systems (IMS), for the treatment of wastewater from cooling towers. Two IMS employed were sand filtration–MF–RO and sand filtration–UF–RO. MF and UF membranes were found to be effective to reduce turbidity and the silt density index of the wastewater. Both of them could provide eligible feed for sequent RO membranes. The product water of the both IMS could fulfill reuse requirements.