Autor(es):
Sousa, Vânia 
; Lucas, Helena ; Ribau Teixeira, Margarida
Data: 2010
Identificador Persistente: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.1/1126
Origem: Sapientia - Universidade do Algarve
Assunto(s): Nanofiltration; Pilot scale; Natural organic matter; Microcystins
Descrição
The presence of microcystins (MC) in drinking water reservoirs, even at low
concentrations, is a problem for all involved in management and water treatment. This
cyclic peptide hepatotoxin, produced by several species of toxic cyanobacteria as
secondary metabolites, cause liver damage and is considered tumor promoter
(Matsushima et al., 1992), representing a potential hazard to human health (Carmichael,
1994). Therefore, it is necessary to ensure their removal in water treatment plants
(WTP) by innovative and effective treatments. In recent years, nanofiltration (NF) has
become an attractive alternative technology to conventional water treatment due to the
capacity to remove inorganic and organic compounds (disinfection by-products (DBP)
precursors) with low molecular weight cut-offs and low operating pressures (Her et al.,
2000; Costa and Pinho, 2006). However, the application of NF to drinking water
treatment is affected by natural organic matter (NOM) fouling (Hong and Elimelech,
1997). Membrane fouling refers to plugging and external pore blocking (Gwon et al.,
2003) which causes low performance and reduction of membrane time life, because of
flux decline and/or transmembrane pressure increase (Her et al., 2000). In addition,
good results were obtained with NF to remove cyanotoxins present in water for human
consumption. According to some authors (Ribau Teixeira and Rosa, 2005; Gijsbertsen-
Abrahamse et al., 2006; Ribau Teixeira and Rosa, 2006), NF removed cyanobacterial
toxins from water, with removal rates greater than 99% at laboratory scale. However,
pilot scale experiments in real context are missing. The aim of this work is to study NF
performance to remove microcystins from natural water, at a pilot scale in a real context
of WTP.
