Javier Miguel Ochando Pulido
University of Granada, Spain
Title: On the adequate selection and operation of a membrane module based on olive mill feedstream fingerprints characterization
Biography
Biography: Javier Miguel Ochando Pulido
Abstract
The application of membrane technology in improving the quality of the secondary-treated olive mill wastewater (OMWST) was examined, to obtain an effluent with good quality for its reuse in irrigation. One key issue that must be taken into account is to avoid or minimize membrane fouling potential, and this starts from the very first moment of the membrane selection. Choosing the most adequate membrane module is one of the keys for the success of the membrane process at real industrial scale. For this purpose, a deep analysis of the feedstream must be fulfilled, with a focus on particle molecular weight cut off and size distribution, both inorganic and organic. As a general rule, one of the most critical ways of membrane fouling, blocking of the membrane’s pores tends to be reduced when particles mean size is shifted from one tenth above or below the average pore diameter of the membrane. In this work, characterization of the fingerprints of OMWST was performed to choose the most adequate membrane for final purification of the effluent. Particle size distribution on OMWST revealed supra-micron colloids and suspended solids plus sub-micron particles below 1.5 µm remain in sensible concentration. 31.7% organic pollutants percentage with an average diameter below 3 kDa was measured. Finally, upon the gathered information, a nanofiltration (NF) membrane with 0.5 nm mean pore diameter was selected, and operation at 15 bar pressure lead to high flux production (70-80 L h-1m-2) and significant rejection efficiencies (88.5% for organic pollutants).