CAREER: Disinfection Using Membranes: Optimizing Virus and Disinfection By-Product Control

University Of Houston, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

0134301 Chellam The ultimate goal of this research is to develop tools to predict the removal of pathogenic viruses and precursors to potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic disinfection by products by membranes as a step towards reducing microbial and chemical risks in drinking water. The proposed work is based on the following hypotheses: 1. Hindered diffusion of natural organic matter (NOM) contributes significantly to its transport across nanofiltration membranes leading to formation of toxic disinfection by-products (DBPs) upon chlorination. 2. Diffusion of pathogenic viruses contributes substantially to their transport across microfilters and ultrafilters and its dependence on water chemistry, temperature, and pore size can be quantified. 3. Direct measurements of membrane pore size distributions and transport parameters of NOM and viruses in membranes can be incorporated into theoretical models to predict their removal. Even though early research had been conducted on diffusive transport of salts across reverse osmosis, this investigation will be the first to perform direct measurements of NOM diffusion across nanofiltration membranes. Transport of NOM, DBP precursors, and viruses across membranes will be investigated experimentally and theoretically. Direct measurements of convection and diffusion of these contaminants across membranes under varying water chemistry conditions will be interpreted by undertaking numerical calculations of hindered transport. Universally applicable models (independent of membrane used and source water location) to predict trihalomethane and haloacetic acid speciation in "precursor-limited" waters (low NOM content) will also be derived.