The effect of ozone on ceramic membranes for application to secondary treated effluent

As the global warming and population growth in urbanized areas lead to pressures on the accessibility of potable water resources, water recycling is regarded as one of the most viable solutions in Australia and overseas. Recycling wastewater can help in relieving the demand on existing high quality potable water supplies while at the same time protecting remaining water sources from contamination. Among the different wastewater treatment processes to raise wastewater quality to a suitable standard for recycling, membrane filtration has become a common operation due to its ability to provide high quality water at high efficiency. Despite the wide spread application of membranes made of polymeric materials, membranes made instead from ceramic materials can be operated with lower maintenance and operational requirements because of their stronger mechanical structure, superior chemical durability and better physical strength. In practice, these translate to their ability to be operated under high temperature, pressure and pH condition without concern for compaction, delamination, damage or swelling of the membrane. Such benefits are known to offset the higher material cost of ceramics, but are also useful in water recycling where the membrane functions as a reliable barrier to water-borne pathogens. Meanwhile, the material robustness enables ceramic membranes to be operated in combination with more effective pretreatment options like ozonation