A comparative study of solar mobile membrane drinking water treatment system and point-of-use filter system | |
| Author | Phoo Pwint Khine |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-20-08 |
| Subject(s) | Drinking water--Purification Cell membranes Water Microbiology |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Combination of ultra-filtration membrane and solar energy based drinking water treatment system called solar powered mobile membrane system (SPMMS) was developed in this study to provide safe and affordable drinking water for rural areas in developing countries. The performance of SPMMS was evaluated by operating with synthetic river water (50-200 NTU) and AIT canal water (<5 NTU) of turbidity concentration. In parallel, a Point of Use (POU) water purification system was tested using treated tap water, normally used in urban context. Although turbidity removal percentage of POU (72%) was lower than SPMMS (95%) due to membrane pore size, both systems could produce permeate with WHO drinking water quality standard. On the other hand, total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency for POU was higher than SPMMS because of the combined filtration system of activated carbon (AC) and micro-filtration of POU unit. Especially, the AC layer which could remove maximum 39% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) while MF and UF membrane were not able to remove any dissolved organic compounds. As a result, TOC removal percentage in POU became 52% while SPMMS removed only 19%. At the same time, there were no bacteria outbreaks in permeate water of both filtration systems throughout the whole research. There was no energy consumption for POU unit as it was used gravity filtration while minimum specific energy consumption of SPMMS was occurred during the maximum permeate flux operations (0.84 kWh/m3 for 13.3 LMH). In addition, SPMMS also required monthly chemical cleaning to reduce membrane fouling and applied pressure values. In conclusion, SPMMS could produce maximum 200 L/d which was sufficient for 20 people while POU had the limitation to produce maximum 200 L per one filter cartridge almost under the same condition of permeate water quality. However, POU had a strict limitation of feed water source (only tap water) while SPMMS could treat every surface water sources. |
| Year | 2020 |
| 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 (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Visvanathan, Chattiyappan; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Kumar, Sivanappan;Shipin, Oleg; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | AIT Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M. Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2020 |