Speaker: Prof. Peter Huck, NSERC Chair in Water Treatment, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo

Place: Forum Chriesbach, FC-D24

Biological filtration has been applied in recent years as a pre-treatment to reduce membrane fouling in drinking water treatment. By removing biopolymers in the feedwater, biofiltration without pre-treatment (BFWP) can effectively reduce organic fouling of ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. A joint project between Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Waterloo has addressed biofiltration as a component of reverse osmosis pre-treatment in seawater desalination. The investigations synthesized in this presentation demonstrate that biofiltration pretreatment can effectively reduce fouling of both low-pressure and high-pressure membranes used in drinking water treatment. Research needs for further development and implementation of biofiltration pretreatment are identified.