The effect of coupling coagulation and flocculation with membrane filtration in water treatment: A review

Water supply and sanitation demands are foreseen to face enormous challenges over the coming decades to meet the fast growing needs in a global perspective. Significant growth in the industry is predicted and membrane separation technologies have been identified as one of the possible solutions to meet future demands. Application and implementation of membrane technology is expected both in production of potable water as well as in treatment of wastewater. In potable water production membranes are substituting conventional separation technologies due to the superior performance, potential for less chemical use and sludge production, as well as the potential to fulfill hygienic barrier requirements. Membrane bio-reactor (MBR) technology is probably the membrane process which has had most success and has the best prospects for the future in wastewater treatment. Trends and developments indicate that this technology is becoming accepted and is rapidly becoming the best available technology for many wastewater treatment applications. A major drawback of MBR systems is membrane fouling. Studies have shown that fouling mitigation in MBR systems can potentially be done by coupling coagulation and flocculation to the process.