Membrane Replacement Project Successful

On June 16, 2009, the team of Great Blue Heron Management and Applied Water Management replaced four GE Zenon ZeeWeed hollow fiber membrane modules at the Outdoor World Vacation Resort in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The wastewater treatment facility, operated by Great Blue Heron Management, was in need of replacing membranes that had been in operation for over five years. Typical membranes of this type might have had a longer life span however this facility is not equipped with a pretreatment tank. Consequently, the bioreactor accumulates debris, hair and rags that shorten the life of the individual strands through a process called delamination. In essence what happens is the rags force their way inbetween the membrane strands which puts stress on them causing them to stretch, delaminate and ultimately break. Once the strands delaminate or break, you begin to pull suspended solids into the permeate which results in compliance problems.

The entire process required about ten hours from start to finish. Once the installation was complete the membranes were tested for vacuum and permeate flow and both were within a very good range for new membranes. The wastewater facility should be able to produce excellent quality effluent for the foreseeable future!

Here, Steve puts the finishing touches on the new membranes just prior to testing. Thanks to the Applied Water Team of Aram, Steve and Roger for their work on this project. Thanks also go out to the owners representatives Donna and Don!