The Effect of Washing and Air Scouring on the Performance of Immersed Membrane Microfiltration

The quality of raw water in Surabaya is decreasing, and conventional treatment units are no longer efficient in treating raw water to become drinking water. Microfiltration membranes applied in sedimentation units can produce better quality results on limited land that uses a small number of chemicals. The material will be deposited on the membrane's surface throughout the filtration process. The deposition of these materials can cause fouling, leading to a decrease in membrane productivity. This study involved a detailed investigation into the membrane washing method and air scouring implication in the microfiltration process to understand the most efficient technique to increase membrane productivity. Washing was done manually with a gentle scrubbing method and backwashing with time variation for 20 minutes and 10 minutes. Air Scouring was done with air pressure variations of 0,3 bar and 0,6 bar. The study showed that water flux was affected by the washing and air scouring method. Permeate quality was also found to be affected by washing and air scouring variation. Permeate quality analyses in this study are turbidity, TSS, micro-plastics, E-Coli, and organic substances.