Microfiltration-2017

Surging population, energy demands, and climate change will push us, ever more urgently, to find new approaches to meet growing water demands. Most often, this will involve harvesting lower quality or impaired water supplies (e.g., seawater or brackish groundwater) as a source for drinking water. Recently desalination using membrane-based processes (e.g., reverse osmosis [RO], electrodialysis [ED], and nanofiltration [NF]) has shown promise for providing additional sources of fresh water across the United States. However, the current membrane separation processes are commonly energy intensive and produce large volumes of concentrated brine which poses unique challenges. Particularly in land-locked urban center brine disposal often relyes on surface water discharge or deep-well injection which pose economic and practical difficulties for wide-spread adoption of such technologies. Thus, there is an urgent need for energy-efficient desalination technologies that reduce the amount of concentrate produced, or identify cost-effective solutions for concentrate management.

Introduction: Activated carbon filtration (AC) is effective in reducing certain organic chemicals and chlorine in water. It can also reduce the quantity of lead in water although most lead-reducing systems use another filter medium in addition to carbon. Water is passed through granular or block carbon material to reduce toxic compounds as well as harmless taste- and odor-producing chemicals. This fact sheet discusses the principles and processes of typical activated carbon filtration systems.

Access to safe drinking water is critical to survival, and its deprivation could affect the health, food security, and livelihoods of human beings. India achieved 93% coverage of access to improved water supply in rural areas in 2015 towards fulfilling its commitment under the Millennium Development Goal1. However, with reference to safely managed drinking water (improved water supply located on-premises, available when needed and free of contamination) as per Sustainable Development Goal, India still has major targets to achieve, and is geared up to accomplish the same by the end of 2024. With the shift from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) less than half of the total rural households in the country have access to safely managed drinking water (improved water supply located on-premises, available when needed and free of contamination).