Efficiency of membrane processes for taste and odor removal.

The occurrence of tastes and odors (T&O) in drinking water is considered as one of the main problems by the drinking water companies. Thus, several treatment processes were developed over the years to control T&O including air stripping, activated carbon and oxidation using ozone. However, little information is available in the literature on the use of membranes for T&O removal. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to present potential of membrane processes for removal of taste and odor causing compounds. Several membranes were tested including ultrafiltration (UF), UF combined with powdered activated carbon (PAC), nanofiltration (NF) and low pressure reverse osmosis (LP RO) membranes. The results of this study indicate that the combination of UF with PAC is effective for T&O control whereas the benefit of NF and LP RO remains unclear for T&O control.