MBR-RO for high-grade water (NEWater) production from domestic used water

Singapore has been developing new technologies to reclaim water to drinking water standards from domestic used water. The water produced with drinking water standards by dual membrane process is called NEWater in Singapore. After the successful pilot study of membrane bioreactor for water reclamation, MBR-RO integrated system was also studied at pilot scale to investigate the new option of producing NEWater at a more reliable and economical way. A MBR-RO pilot plant with capacity of 20m3/d was used for this study. Settled domestic used water was used for the feed. The pilot study demonstrated that the MBR offered better synergy between membrane and activated sludge process. The new MBR-RO process could produce equivalent or better high grade water (NEWater) and have better resistance to shock loading than the conventional AS-MF/UF-RO from the domestic used water. RO membranes in the MBR-RO process could be operated 30% higher flux than in AS-MF/UF-RO process for NEWater production.