Thickening Characteristics of Residual from a Ceramic Membrane Water Treatment Plant

세라믹 막 정수공정에서 발생하는 배출수의 농축특성

For a more effectively designed gravity thickener, thickening experiments were conducted for residuals produced by a ceramic membrane water treatment plant (WTP). Two kinds of residuals, one from backwashing (BW) and the other from chemically enhanced backwashing (CEB) procedure, were separately collected during a pilot plant experiment and their limiting solid flux ($SF_L$) measured. Batch thickening experiments showed that the BW and CEB residual had $SF_L$ of 10 and $25kg/m^2{\cdot}d$, respectively. Continuous operation of a pilot-scale gravity thickener proved that a mixed BW and CEB residual could be successfully thickened at the solid loading rate (SLR) of $12kg/m^2{\cdot}d$, allowing the concentration of the thickened residual to be about $15kg/m^2{\cdot}d$. From the experimental results and consideration of the seasonal thickening characteristics of the residual, SLR of $15kg/m^2{\cdot}d$ was proposed as a design parameter for full-scale gravity thickeners.