Pre-Treatment and Ultrafiltration in High Solids, High Turbidity Water

Water sources that experience seasonal fluctuations in solids and turbidity levels require a water treatment system designed to anticipate these changing environmental conditions and still reliably meet water quality standards.

The Baker County Industrial Park water treatment facility draws its water from the Park Hollow Lake and is distributed via 20,000 feet of pipeline to the complex. The facility completed a successful start-up in January 2012, following a five-month, on-site pilot conducted by water treatment systems provider Tonka Water and the Hardy County Public Services Department to ensure it met the state’s drinking water protocol. The pilot utilised flocculation and settling time with a high rate clarifier using a tube settler for the reduction and removal of iron, manganese, turbidity and organics. DOW (USA) Ultrafiltration (UF) SFD-2860 membrane model was selected to further reduce contaminant levels and address water treatment objectives.

“High turbidity and solids levels caused by spring snow melt and rainfall at Park Hollow Lake required a flux system that could facilitate water safety year-round, no matter what fluctuated upstream,” said Andreas Gorenflo, Global Strategic Marketing Manager Desalination and Municipal, Dow Water & Process Solutions . “DOW UF Membranes are the primary membrane barrier for the drinking water to pass through before it’s put out for drinking water. The pilot confirmed DOW UF Membranes’ exceptional barrier properties and ability to maintain fibre integrity under a wide variety of conditions.”

During the pilot trial, the DOW UF Membrane underwent routine cleaning operations designed to reduce fouling and maintenance flux and permeability. Following these cleanings, the UF membranes were restored to better than their initial permeability. Also, as indicated by the EPA, the UF system must undergo a daily integrity test to demonstrate a resolution of 3 microns or less. Test results of the DOW UF Membranes were well below the standard of 0.2 psi/min. Since the start up, the DOW UF Membranes still demonstrate similar performance on fiber integrity. The chemical cleaning frequency has also been updated to lower the overall chemical cost.

“We chose DOW Ultrafiltration Membranes for the Baker Water Treatment Plant project primarily for their reliability and ease of integration into our UTS - M treatment system, but also because of their relatively smaller footprint compared to multimedia filters,” said Gary Warner, Executive Vice President of Tonka Water. “We see this trend as a key innovation in North America as growing communities like those served by the Baker Water Treatment Plant in Hardy County, W.Va., look for system solutions that address high turbidity water sources and can accommodate their cost and space requirements.”

“The Baker facility is now supplying over half a million gallons of water a day to both residential and commercial customers,” said Daniel Opperman, Commercial Manager of Dow Water & Process Solutions. “We’re excited to see the plant come on line and to see yet another adoption of our UF technology as a practical solution.”