The feasibility of UF-RO integrated membrane system combined with coagulation/flocculation for hairwork dyeing effluent reclamation.

This paper aims to validate the feasibility of hairwork dyeing effluent (HDE) reclamation using an ultrafiltration (UF)-reverse osmosis (RO) integrated membrane system combined with coagulation-flocculation and sedimentation acquiring the highest possible product water recovery rate along with both satisfactory separation performance and well controlled membrane fouling. Under the circumstance of only physical cleaning involved, the laboratory-scale test yielded a higher and satisfactory reuse ratio of 76% for HDE, and the corresponding RO product as reclaimed water contained only 223 mg·L-1 of TDS, 3.87 mg·mL-1 of DOC and 10.3 mg·mL-1 of total hardness, which was obviously better than the quality of existing feedwater in hairwork dyeing process. After each processing unit, the distributions of fulvic (region III) and humic (region V) organics decreased continuously, while an overall rising trend in distribution of protein-like organics (regions I and II) was observed. Contact angle for the fouled UF and RO membranes significantly increased by 19.5° and decreased by 19.7°, respectively, which suggested that different polarity of organic or inorganic adsorption rather than membrane roughness was the main factors affecting wetting properties of the fouled employed membranes. Both ATR-FTIR and XPS spectra indicated that organic fouling on UF membrane surface under harsh condition (RUF = 90%) was mild and tolerable, whereas a surprising amount of hydrophilic micromolecular organics riched in carboxyl and hydroxyl functional groups were absorbed on RO membrane surface after permeation.