| Author | Li, Huafang |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-99-16 |
| Subject(s) | Sewage--Purification--Reverse osmosis process
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of
Engineering, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Organic compounds have been found in the sources of drinking water. Some of these
are suspected carcinogens and other toxic pollutants. Research on how to remove these
organic chemicals is very important for the human health. This experimental investigation was
conducted to evaluate performance of ultra low pressure reverse osmosis (ULPRO) membrane
for the removal of organic compounds. Influence of feed pH, characteristics of organic
compounds such as pKa, molecular weight and number of functional group on ULPRO
membrane were determined.
The experimental study ranges of pressure, concentration, pH were 294.2lkPa, 10
mg/L, 3 - 9 respectively. The organic compounds that have different functional group and
ES20 ULPRO membrane were used in the experiments. All feed solution contains single
organic compound.
The organic compounds were divided into two groups. Molecular weight plays an
important role in rejection of undissociated organic compounds. Rejection is linear with
molecular weight. The higher the molecular weight, the higher the rejection. A rejection of
23.4% to 96.5% was observed between the molecular weight of 32 to 180. The molecular
weight cut-off (MWCO) is about 150. The rejection of undissociated organic compounds has
little relation with feed pH.
Feed pH and pKa value play an important role in rejection of dissociated organic
compounds. Feed pH values have influences on the characteristics of both the membrane and
organic compounds. Membrane can charge positively or negatively under different pH. And
also dissociated organic compounds can dissociate under different pH. Electrostatic force will
react between membrane and organic compounds. The results indicate that rejection linearly
decreases with pKa value. Higher pKa value has lower rejection. The pKa values varies from
3.1 to 7.2 at feed pH 5, the rejection changes from 95.6% to 44.6% accordingly.
The result suggests that functional group and the number of functional group also play
an important role in rejection of organic compounds. The more groups there are, the higher the
rejection. |
| Year | 1999 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Ozaki, Hiroaki; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Traenkler, Josef ;Preeda Parkpian ; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | The Royal Netherlands Government; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 |