Impacts of Primary Effluent Filtration and Primary Filtration Technologies on Performance of Water Resource Recovery Facilities Compared to Conventional Primary Treatment

Several filter technologies have been developed over the past 20 years that can be used to
- enhance the performance of or
- replace conventional primary treatment facilities. To enhance primary treatment performance, primary sedimentation (PS) tank effluent can be filtered to further reduce the constituent concentrations discharged to the secondary treatment facilities. This form of primary enhancement is known as primary effluent filtration (PEF). When a filter technology is used to replace primary sedimentation, the process application is known as primary filtration (PF). The principal focus of this paper is to compare the performance of PEF and PF technologies against conventional primary treatment. The comparison will focus on treatment and hydraulic performance impacts on Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRF). Carbon management and energy impacts are also addressed. Performance data from full-, demonstration- and pilot-scale projects are included, based on a review and analysis of several projects conducted between 2008 and 2020.