1. Membrane Technology for Treatment of Process Affected Waters
CONRAD – Oils Sands Process Water Workshop
Membrane Technology for Treatment of Process Affected Waters
Hadi Husain and Steve Kroll
ZENON Environmental Inc., Canada

2. Ultrafiltration has come of age for Industrial and Municipal Water and Wastewater Treatment
This has resulted from progressive improvements in permeability, and reduction in production cost.
ZENON is focused on use of membranes for water and wastewater treatment
We have played a key role in this transformation through invention and evolution of our ZeeWeed® immersed membranes and the ZenoGem® bioreactor
Largest ZeeWeed® water filtration plant, when fully operational, will produce in 75,000 m3/d water
Largest industrial recycle plant produces 26,000 m3/d tertiary water for RO at a Mexican refinery
Largest ZenoGem® plant treats up to 19,000 m3/d
Very high level of reliability has been achieved, with most plants designed for a 24h/d, 365 d/y basis.

3. MF/UF Membranes in Water Treatment
Complex system
Membranes in pressure vessels
High operating pressure
High cross-flow velocity
High flux
Small/expensive module
Low permeability membrane
Inherited features from RO and older UF technologies
Simple system
Shell-less membranes
Low operating pressure
Direct (dead-end) filtration
Air to enhance solids removal
Moderate flux
Large/low cost module
High permeability membrane
Current trend

4. ZeeWeed® Operation
Permeate Pump
Raw Water
Treated Water
Reject
Air

5. Evolution of ZeeWeed® Membranes
Superficial Loading
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
Filtration rate (gal/min/ft2)
ZW-150
(1995)
ZW-500a
(1997)
ZW-500b
(1999)
ZW-1000
(2000)
Typical range for
rapid sand filtration
Evolution of ZeeWeed®
Membranes
Development started in 1991
First applied to difficult wastewater treatment (landfill leachates).
Developed product and processes for simpler applications
4 generations of backward compatible products
Energy consumption

6. ZeeWeed® for Water Filtration Cost

7. ZeeWeed® Water Filtration Capacity
Year
* As of March 30, 2000
(000’s m3/day)
122% Annual Growth

8. Wastewater: Energy Consumption

9. Wastewater: Cost

10. ZenoGem® - Biological Wastewater Installed Capacity (m3/day)

11. ZeeWeed® Based Plants are Highly Reliable
We have developed strong fibres with high permeability. This, combined with operation under low delta p and mild aeration enhances reliability, reduces energy use and increases membrane life
For direct filtration of low solids water, low delta p operation permits the use of unsupported, small, low cost hollow fibres
Inner support material and the outer polymer coating imparts high strength, toughness and durability to the hollow fibre product used for high solids application
Immersed membrane configuration, combined with innovative module designs and aeration techniques result in stable operation in high solids environment

12. The ZeeWeed® Membrane
Supported hollow fibre with outside-in flow (0.9 mm ID, 1.9 mm OD)
Chlorine-resistant polymeric membrane
Pore size of 0.04 µm nominal in the ultrafiltration range
Permeate drawn by suction on the permeate side
Air bubbling induces turbulence to keep membrane clean

14. ZeeWeed® Applications
- Membrane Bioreactor (ZenoGem®) for wastewater treatment
- Direct filtration (surface water, well water, secondary effluent, process water )
- Filtration coupled with coagulation/ oxidation/ powdered activated carbon

16. ZeeWeed® ZenoGem® Operation
Membranes contained in frames within aeration tanks
Operating vacuum -1 to -8 psi (greater vacuum = greater flow)
Vacuum created by conventional ANSI end suction pump
Pumping rate controlled by VFD based on aeration tank level
Membrane scouring provided by airflow (100 SCFM / ZW-500c cassette) (4 psi at base of cassette)
Membrane air provides 50% of biological requirements
Fine bubble aeration supplements membrane aeration
Fully automated backpulse (20 seconds every 15 minutes)

17. ZenoGem® for Water Reuse RO Pre-treatment in Florida
Location: Florida Keys
Municipality required very high effluent quality, at all times to:
Protect marine life
Irrigate golf course
What was considered:
Activated sludge
SBR
ZenoGem®

18. Reverse Osmosis Pre-Treatment
Removal of suspended solids larger than microns and fouling organic molecules
Typical advantages of ultrafiltration for RO pre-treatment:
Absolute filter at micron
Lower chemical consumption - no need to settle the coagulated organics
Lower sludge volume to be disposed
Easy to operate
Produces a high quality water (SDI < 3), allowing for easy operation of RO Plant (ie: lower power requirement, longer cleaning intervals, longer membrane life)

19. Florida WTP - RO Feed - 3,500 m3/day 5,5,3,1

20. ZenoGem® for TN Removal with Pre-DenitrificationRQ Q
Q(1+R)
Anoxic
Aerobic
D.O. > 1 mg/L
NH4+ NO3-
NO3-  N2
D.O. < 0.5 mg/L
Effluent [TN] = [TKNox] / (1+R) + TKNeff
TN < 10 mg/L R > 4
TN < 6 mg/L R > 8
TN < 3 mg/L R > 20
Assume
TKNox = 40 mg/L
TKNeff = 1 mg/L

21. Influent Wastewater

22. Process Optimization Nitrogen Removal

23. Florida WW Plant RO Conductivity Removal Efficiency

24. Full-Scale Industrial Applications of ZeeWeed®
for Water Filtration
Direct filtration of surface water for process use
Tertiary filtration of wastewater effluents for water reuse
Pre-treatment of industrial or municipal effluent for process use or for boiler make up water prior to reverse osmosis
Coagulation coupled with filtration for TOC and colour removal for direct process use or as a pretreatment to RO
Oxidation coupled with filtration for iron, manganese, arsenic and other heavy metals removal

25. Treatment Options Option 1 Option 2 Option 3 UF UF PRE-TREATMENT UF
PAC
Option 3

26. ZeeWeed® for Filtration Applications Coagulation coupled with filtration for TOC and colour removal

27. What is UF Enhanced Coagulation ?
Coagulation of dissolved organics at a higher coagulant dosage than required for turbidity removal
Acid/caustic addition may be utilized for pH adjustment (pH ~ )
Advantages of the ZeeWeed® Enhanced Coagulation Process:
- TOC removal - up to 75%
- colour removal - up to 95%
- SDI of 2 or less
- less chemical usage and less sludge for disposal

28. Enhanced Coagulation Coagulant Permeate Pump Flash Mixer Feed Water
High solids concentatration in tank
Flocculation Chamber
Bleed/Concentrate
Air

29. ZW Pretreatment for Boiler Water RO Feed in a Northern Alberta Application (Ferric chloride dosage: mg/l)

30. ZeeWeed® / Powdered Activated Carbon (PAC)
Activated carbon is used to ZW tank to adsorb organic impurities.
Dosage rates and retention time of activated carbon in ZeeWeed tank is managed to provide the best conditions for removal of a specific contaminant, and its adsorption rates on carbon
ZW has a high tolerance for solids. Systems operate at up to 30 g/l of suspended solids. Aeration provides mixing.
We have found that permeability can actually improve with the addition of activated carbon

31. MIB Removal Figure 1A: MIB removal with 50 mg/l PAC using ZW10 module37 71
179
212 5 7 10 50
100
150
200
250 1 2 3 4
MIB (ug/l)
Feed
Permeate

32. ZeeWeed® for Filtration Applications Tertiary filtration of secondary effluents for water reuse

33. Sludge dewatering / disposal
Evolution of Water Reclamation Treatment Train at Orange County Water District
Original
Pre-
treatment
Primary
clarifier
Activated
sludge
Secondary
clarifier
Lime
softening
Air
stripping
Recarbo-
nation
Sand
filtration
GAC
adsorption
Clarification RO
Raw
sewage
Treated
water
Sludge dewatering / disposal
Sludge digester
With MF/UF pre-treatment to RO
Pre-
treatment
Primary
clarifier
Activated
sludge
Secondary
clarifier
MF/UF RO
Raw
sewage
Treated
water
Sludge
dewatering / disposal
Sludge digester

34. Case Study: Poland Secondary Effluent Reuse
Pretreatment of municipal secondary effluent RO to industrial cooling circuit feedwater
Operating since September 1999
Plant Capacity: 5,400 m3/d
Permeate SDI < 2

35. ZeeWeed®/RO Pilot Program for Process Affected Waters
ZeeWeed offers the following advantages for water recycle at SCL:
0.04 micron ultrafiltration
Consistent, high quality effluent with significant reduction of RO biofouling
High recovery
Low SDI, leading to improved RO operation
High MLSS loading in bioreactor leading to superior nitrification
Pilot program focusing on three ZeeWeed® configurations:
Physical chemical treatment for O&G and suspended solids
Physical chemical with PAC addition to the ZeeWeed tank to further enhance O&G removal
ZenoGem® with nitrification for ammonia and toxicity reduction
Reverse Osmosis for TDS reduction to be piloted with each of the above

36. Pilot Program Targets and Schedule
SDI of 2 or less
ZeeWeed system recovery of >90%
RO recovery >80%
Ammonia less than 1 mg/l in biological nitrification
ZW permeate turbidity of less than 0.1 NTU
RO salt rejection of >99%
Total program duration of six months starting today

37. Conclusions
The ZeeWeed technology is highly suited to RO pretreatment for recycle of SCL’s process affected water streams
It provides 0.04 micron barrier to suspended matter, and combined with physical chemical or biological processes, can remove a wide variety of contaminants effectively and consistently
Low pressure operation, low energy use, and high recovery potential make this technology particularly suitable for this application
Pilot program is underway to apply ZW-RO, in combination with physical – chemical and biological pretreatment for recycle of process affected waters for boiler water make-up and other potential reuse applictions