One tool in efforts to tackle the ever growing problem of water scarcity is municipal wastewater reclamation to produce drinking water. Microfiltration (MF) is a central technology for potable reuse because it is highly effective in removing pathogenic protozoa, bacteria, and other colloids and for reverse osmosis pretreatment. However, as microfiltered materials accumulate at the membrane surface, its productivity is reduced requiring periodic removal of foulants. A mathematical model of MF is described in the context of hollow fiber filtration that focused on optimizing constant flux operation with backwashing. Design curves were also proposed for determining backwash timing. The model analysis is evaluated against real-world MF fouling for membranes that range in age from a few weeks to three years, observed at the world’s largest water reuse facility operated by the Orange County Water District. The presented model compares well with the full-scale operational data, and model parameters accurately capture variations in fouling kinetics with membrane age, providing clues to changes in optimal regeneration timing and frequency as membrane performance declines over long time scales.

解决日益严重的水资源短缺问题的一种工具是回收市政废水以生产饮用水。微滤 (MF) 是饮用水再利用的核心技术，因为它在去除致病性原生动物、细菌和其他胶体以及反渗透预处理方面非常有效。然而，随着微滤材料在膜表面积聚，其生产率降低，需要定期去除污垢。在中空纤维过滤的背景下描述了 MF 的数学模型，该模型侧重于优化带有反洗的恒定通量操作。还提出了用于确定反洗时间的设计曲线。模型分析针对实际使用的膜的 MF 污染进行评估，膜的使用期限从几周到三年不等，在奥兰治县水区运营的世界上最大的中水回用设施中观察到。所提出的模型与全面的操作数据进行了很好的比较，并且模型参数准确地捕捉了污垢动力学随膜老化的变化，为膜性能长时间下降时最佳再生时间和频率的变化提供了线索。