Investigation of membrane fouling mechanism towards potable water production by membrane filtration against highly turbid surface water in Asian developing countries

• Project/Area Number: 26889019
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Civil and environmental engineering
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: HASHIMOTO Takashi 東京大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (80735712)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2015)
• Budget Amount: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000); Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
• Keywords: 膜ろ過 / 浄水供給 / 適正処理技術 / 開発途上国 / 貯留 / 膜ファウリング / 可視化 / 東南アジア / 酸化鉄 / 超解像顕微鏡 / 接触角 / 無機膜

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we investigated the effect of raw water storing as an appropriate pre-treatment for membrane filtration in developing countries. We obtained the result that the raw water storing effectively mitigated membrane fouling by reducing both solids and organic substances for membrane filtration through adsorption and precipitation. It was also found that inorganic colloids such as ferrihydrite in surface water adsorbed organic substances, which lead to membrane fouling mitigation.
We developed a novel method for visualizing foulants inside membranes on the molecular scale with the super-resolution microscopy. This method, for the first time, successfully visualized the distribution of trace foulants inside membrane after cleaning procedure that have never been detected by conventional methods.

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] Chiang Mai University(Thailand)
• [Presentation] Sustainably functional water supply system with gravity driven membrane filtration system in Southeast Asia (2015)
  • Author(s): Hashimoto, T., Wattanachira, S., and Matsui
  • Organizer: The 2015 International Environmental Engineering Conference
  • Place of Presentation: Busan, Korea
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-28
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 酸化鉄と有機物との相互作用が精密ろ過膜ファウリングへ及ぼす影響. (2015)
  • Author(s): Gunawan, Patricia Angelina, 滝沢智、橋本崇史
  • Organizer: 第87 回水道研究発表会
  • Place of Presentation: さいたまスーパーアリーナ（埼玉県さいたいま市）
  • Year and Date: 2015-10-21
• [Presentation] Control of membrane fouling caused by naturally occurring inorganic substances (2015)
  • Author(s): Hashimoto T, Gunawan A. P, Takizawa S, Wattanachira S, and Wongrueng A
  • Organizer: The 6th IWA-ASPIRE Conference and Exhibition
  • Place of Presentation: 北京（中国）
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-20 – 2015-09-24
• [Presentation] Control of Membrane Fouling by Naturally Occuring Inorganic Substances in Developing countries (2015)
  • Author(s): Hashimoto, T., Gunawan, P.A., Takizawa, S., Wattanachira, S., and Wongrueng, A
  • Organizer: The 6th IWA ASPIRE Conference & Exhibition
  • Place of Presentation: Beijing, China
  • Year and Date: 2015-09-20
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] アフリカの無電化地域での安全な水供給を目的とした太陽光殺菌および水位差利用型膜ろ過処理の現地実験 (2014)
  • Author(s): 橋本崇史、滝沢智、Yacouba Konate
  • Organizer: 第51回環境工学研究フォーラム
  • Place of Presentation: 山梨大学（山梨、甲府市）
  • Year and Date: 2014-12-20 – 2014-12-22