Development of evaluation methods to introduce a nanofiltration membrane process in drinking water treatment.

The objective of this study was to develop a new prediction method for evaluating performance of full-scale nanofiltration (NF) pilot plant by using small-scale pilot plants. Operating experiments using both multistage array pilot plant and two small-scale pilot plants in parallel had been conducted for about a year. From this experiment, it was revealed that data obtained from small-scale pilot plants could predict the performance of multistage pilot plant from the viewpoint of flux and rejection. In other words, both permeate water quantity of multistage pilot plant without noticeable fouling caused by aluminium from coagulant and permeate water quality of multistage pilot plant could be estimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]