Full Description

A chief concern for the application of membrane technology for the removal of microbes and turbidity in drinking water treatment is how to assure integrity of these polymer barriers. This question has become especially important as the perceived value of membrane systems for meeting the Interim Enhanced Surface Water Treatment Rule (IESWTR) has become apparent. There is demonstrated long-term success and increasing use of membrane systems in municipal water treatment. Municipalities want to employ this technology and regulators want to accept it, yet the question of a credible, "in-situ" integrity test remains. Although not widely recognized within the municipal treatment industry, integrity tests for membrane elements and systems with a proven history do exist. They were mainly employed in final pharmaceuticals and fine chemicals processing, and as internal quality control tests (seldom published) developed and used by the membrane manufacturing companies. Recognizing that these tests are perfectly viable for the purpose, but need to be refined, standardized and published, the ASTM Committee D19 on Water undertook the creation of such a standard. This standard is now in the balloting phase within ASTM. This paper presents the background on development of that Standard Practice, the test methods it contains and how they were chosen, the current status of the standard and how it may relate to the regulatory issues surrounding the use of membrane. Includes 16 references.

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Edition: Vol. - No. Published: 06/16/2002 Number of Pages: 9File Size: 1 file , 260 KB