Water reuse is an enduring topic that benefits the society and future generations of mankind. Ultrafiltration (UF) is one of the most cost-effective treatment technologies for improving water quality. In this study, a semi-industrial UF pilot plant with periodical classic backwash (CB) and air backwash (AB) was operated automatically to evaluate its feasibility and sustainability for water reuse and find out the optimized filtration condition. This study carried out 15 filtration conditions to investigate the impacts of flux (J in L·h⁻¹·m⁻²), filtration cycle time (t_c in min), and air backwash frequency (BW) on membrane hydraulic filtration performance and membrane fouling management. Through comparative analysis of all conditions in water quality, permeability variation, irreversible fouling management, and water recovery rates, the sustainable conditions J80t40BW1/3 (flux of 80 L·h⁻¹·m⁻², filtration cycle time of 40 min, 1 AB followed with 3 CBs), J60t60BW1/4 (flux of 60 L·h⁻¹·m⁻², filtration cycle time of 60 min, 1 AB followed with 4 CBs), and J60t60BW1/3 (flux of 60 L·h⁻¹·m⁻², filtration cycle time of 60 min, 1AB followed with 3 CBs), stood out from the others with higher overall performances. Additionally, air backwash showed excellent reversibility on membrane fouling control, which was around 1.25 - 2 times that of CB in average. After all, long term operation on condition J60t60BW1/3 in winter and in summer confirmed that the UF system could provide sustainable and adaptable filtration performance regardless of the temperature and feed water quality. The UF permeate quality is good enough to be reused in non-potable applications as it met reuse guidelines of the World Health Organization, reuse standards of France and the most recent EU regulation for agricultural irrigation. This work confirms the great interest of UF as tertiary treatment for water reuse and gives operational indications for future industrial-scale production of reclaimed water.

中水回用是一个持久的话题，它对社会和后代人类都有好处。超滤（UF）是改善水质的最具成本效益的处理技术之一。在这项研究中，具有定期经典反冲洗（CB）和空气反冲洗（AB）的半工业超滤中试工厂是自动运行的，以评估其在中水回用方面的可行性和可持续性，并找出最佳的过滤条件。这项研究进行了15个过滤条件，以研究通量（J in L·h ^-1 ·m ^-2），过滤循环时间（t _c（min），以及空气反冲洗频率（BW）对膜液压过滤性能和膜结垢管理的影响。通过对水质，渗透率变化，不可逆结垢管理和水回收率等所有条件的比较分析，得出可持续条件J80t40BW1 / 3（通量为80 L·h ^-1 ·m ^-2，过滤循环时间为40 min，1 AB之后是3个CB），J60t60BW1 / 4（通量为60 L·h ^-1 ·m ^-2，过滤循环时间为60分钟，1 AB随后是4个CB）和J60t60BW1 / 3（通量为60 L·h ^-1 ·米^-2，过滤周期为60分钟（1AB，后接3个CB），在整体性能上比其他同类产品脱颖而出。此外，空气反冲洗在膜污染控制方面显示出极好的可逆性，平均约为CB的1.25-2倍。毕竟，在冬季和夏季在J60t60BW1 / 3的条件下长期运行可以证实，超滤系统可以提供可持续且适应性的过滤性能，而与温度和给水水质无关。UF渗透物的质量足够好，可以在非饮用水应用中重复使用，因为它符合世界卫生组织的重复使用准则，法国的重复使用标准以及欧盟最新的农业灌溉法规。