Description

Ultrafiltration process is used for removing macromolecules and particulates from water for producing water that is potable. It is used for substituting prevailing secondary (flocculation, coagulation, sedimentation) and tertiary filtration (chlorination and sand filtration) systems which are employed in water treatment plants or as unconnected systems in remote regions which has an increasing number of populations. When treatment is being done on water that contains high suspended solids, ultrafiltration system is frequently combined into the process, using firstly primary (filtration and flotation, screening) and some treatments that are secondary like pre-treatment phases. Ultrafiltration process is a low pressure membrane process for water treatment that is designed to remove turbidity causing particles including those comprised of suspended solids, bacteria, colloidal matter and proteins. The main separation mechanism of Ultrafiltration process is size exclusion or sieving and the graphic illustrates that UF effectively removes particles in the size range of less than 0.01 to 0.1 mm. Effective removal of these contaminants in a source water results in a filtrate well suited for further treatment by downstream reverse osmosis .

The UF process is used in a wide variety of applications and industries and typical feed sources include seawater, surface, well and waste waters.