Treatment of saline domestic wastewater using nanofiltration membrane coupled with activated carbon adsorption

This study investigates the treatment of saline domestic wastewater using nanofiltration (NF) and activated carbon (AC) adsorption. The permeate flux behavior during NF was influenced by the type of organic matter (OM) model (glucose vs. alginate), as well as its concentration and solution chemistry. The observed rejections of OM were within the range of 73% to 80% for glucose and 95% to 99% for alginate. Adsorption experiments showed that the optimum AC dose was 4 g/L for glucose adsorption and 8 g/L for alginate adsorption. Treatment of real domestic wastewater showed that the flux behavior tended to be similar to that of the alginate model but the observed rejection was similar to that of the glucose model. The COD rejection of NF was within the range of 77% to 79%. Further treatment using AC adsorption increased the COD removal to ~ 95%.