Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75

Two years of nanofiltration at the Méry-sur-Oise plant, France

B. Cynaa*, G. Chagneaub, G. Bablonc, N. Tanghea

a
Compagnie Générale des Eaux, Usine de Méry-sur-Oise, 2 avenue Marcel Perrin. 95540 Méry-sur-Oise, France
Tel. +33 (1) 34482801; Fax +33 (1) 34482855; email: bernard.cyna@generale-des-eaux.net
b
Syndicat des Eaux d’Ile de France, 14 rue St Benoît, 75006 Paris, France
Tel. +33 (1) 53454212; Fax +33 (1) 53454268; email: g.chagneau@sedif.com
c
Compagnie Générale des Eaux, Quartier Valmy, 32 Place Ronde, 92982 Paris La Défense, France
Tel. +33 (1) 55234221; Fax +33 (1) 55234719; email: guy.bablon@generale-des-eaux.net

Received 1 February 2002; accepted 12 March 2002

Abstract

For more than 2 years, the extension of the Méry-sur-Oise plant has been producing water from the river Oise,
using nanofiltration technology for a production capacity of 140,000 m3/d, a world premiere on surface water. After
presenting the reasons for the nanofiltration choice and the treatment processes, we’ll analyze the performances of
the plant at its different stages: pretreatment upstream, nanofiltration itself and water quality in the distribution
system. Performances are very satisfactory, especially for the two main objectives: elimination of organic matters
and of pesticides. The consumers are also satisfied with the reduction of the chlorine taste (chlorine rate has been
diminished by factor 2) and of calcium concentration. During these 2 years of operation, several tunings have been
conducted to optimize the process, such as active pretreatment parameters and membrane cleaning process. The
whole plant is automated and the process control is performing very efficiently. An automatic piloting system has
been developed and has been operative since the beginning of 2002. So far, operation additional costs, compared to
a traditional plant with refining using ozone and carbon, are lower than foreseen. Nanofiltration in Méry-sur-Oise
turns out to have been the right choice and is a complete success.

Keywords: Méry-sur-Oise; Nanofiltration; Membranes; Clogging; Organic matter; Monitoring

1. Introduction Paris region. It is one of the three main water

production plants owned by SEDIF (Syndicat des
The Méry-sur-Oise plant supplies water to
Eaux d’Ile de France), the region’s water authority,
800,000 people living in the northern part of the
whose facilities are operated by Compagnie
Générale des Eaux. Together, the three plants supply
*Corresponding author.
Presented at the International Congress on Membranes and Membrane Processes (ICOM), Toulouse, France,
July 7–12, 2002.

0011-9164/02/$– See front matter © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved
70 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75
four million people. Production capacity at Méry-
sur-Oise was increased at the end of 1999 so that
the plant could be included in the inter-plant
emergency backup system set up by SEDIF and
the quality of water produced could be improved.
This new plant, using nanofiltration on surface
water, a world first at this scale, has now been
producing water for more than 2 years. The first
conclusions of this experience can be drawn.
Before getting to the observation of this 2-year
period, it is important to keep in mind the reasons
why nanofiltration was chosen for Méry-sur-
Oise [1,2,3].
Méry-sur-Oise plant was first built in 1911,
with a production of 20,000 m3/d, based on slow
sand filtration. It has been in constant evolution
since then with major changes in the sixties (rapid
filtration, ozonation). In 1980, the construction
of a raw water reservoir (400,000 m3) and the
introduction of biological filtration on granular
activated carbon was also a major step. Disinfecting
was transferred to a final stage of the treatment.
But the biological treatment: coagulation,
flocculation, settling, sand filtration, ozone, GAC
filtration was not enough: water from the Oise
river contains a very high rate of organic matter
making it very difficult to treat. Despite the
biological treatment, there was still some organic
matter at the end of the treatment, which fed the
bacteria in the distribution system.
Every year between November and April,
floods of the river Oise, led to high rates of organic
matter (TOC>6 mg/l). In order to keep the organic
matter fed in the distribution system below reason-
able values (TOC<2.5 mg/l), the production had
to be slowed down. In November 1998, rates of TOC
on the river were so high (TOC>10 mg/l) that the
choice was to stop the plant production and be
provided with the Neuilly-sur-Marne plant through
the main feeders that connect these two plants.
In order to reach low rates of organic matter,
comparative studies, carried out since the end of
the 80s by Compagnie Générale des Eaux for the
SEDIF, had shown that nanofiltration was the most
effective treatment. The elimination of pesticides
was another objective with values lower than
0.1 µg/l for 1 µg/l in the river.
A prototype of nanofiltration supplied 6,000
people in Auvers-sur-Oise from 1993 to 1999. Sur-
veys showed that the consumers were very satisfied
with the improved taste: no chlorine taste and
increased softness.
Elimination of organic matters and pesticides,
along with improving the taste, were the reasons
that led to use nanofiltration for the extension of
the plant.
The plant now includes two treatment paths:
• the new membrane path (nanofiltration) with
a production capacity of 140,000 m3/d,
• the biological path with a production capacity
of 200,000 m3/d.
The biological path has to be kept working,
not only because the nanofiltration capacity is
generally insufficient, but also because the
biological plant has to be able to be raised quickly
to 200,000 m3/d. The bacteria have to stay alive
inside the filters.
The mean production of Méry-sur-Oise is
about 180,000 m3/d. The nanofiltration produces
about 130,000 m3/d while the biological path
produces 50,000 m3/d.
The design of the plant had to take into account
the great variability of the water of the river Oise,
beginning with the temperature, which varies
between 1 and 25°C.
The treatment path comprises four stages
(Fig. 1).:
Pre-treatment [4]: Pre-treatment includes
coagulation, flocculation and settling in a ACTIFLO
weighted floc settler, ozonation, and filtration
through a two-layer sand and anthracite bed,
preceded by a second injection of coagulant.
Coagulation is carried out using WAC HB (poly-
aluminium chloride) and an anionic polyelectro-
lyte, which during periods of heavily polluted raw
water, permits a considerable reduction of injected
PAC levels. Coagulation is carried out at a pH of
6.9 by adding sulfuric acid to reduce the quantity
of dissolved aluminum in the water supplying the
 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75
Fig. 1. Nanofiltration treatment path.
membranes. This specific pretreatment was deter-
mined, after several years of tests on pilots, to be
optimal for the Oise River. It minimizes the water-
clogging index upstream of the membranes and
the number of particles greater than 1.5 µm.
Prefiltration: Prefiltration fed by water pumped
at approximately 2 bar, consists in eight micro-
filters, each with 410 6 µm cartridges. These entirely
automated prefilters are air-cleaned every 24 to
36 h, depending on the measured quantity of
particles (particles larger than 1.5 µm), and
chemically cleaned on site every 10–20 days, as
soon as the prefilter head loss reaches 650 m·bar.
The purpose of the prefiltration is to capture the
particles that might clog or even damage the
membranes. The prefilters act as safety fuses in
case the water leaving the dual layer filters con-
tains too many suspended solids.
Nanofiltration: Nanofiltration consists in eight
lines, each one fed by water pumped at approxi-
mately 10 bar. Each line is made of three levels
positioned in steps. Each level ensures filtration
of half the flow. On leaving the third level, 15%
of the initial flow is discharged into drains,
resulting in a conversion rate of 85%. Each line
has 190 pressure vessels (PV), and produces
17,500 m3/d. Each PV has six spiral membrane
elements in line. The 190 PV are arranged in four
blocks: two 54-PV blocks at the first level, one
71
54-PV block at the second level, and one 28-PV
block at the third level. In total, the nanofiltration
unit comprises 9,120 Filmtec NF 200 B-400 mem-
brane elements, specially designed to treat the
Oise water by removing organic matter while
allowing through some of the calcium [5].
Post-treatment: Post-treatment consists in
removing excess CO2, using degassing towers, UV
disinfection through five UV reactors (radiation
of 25 mJ/cm2), mixing with water from the biolo-
gical treatment path, with the balance adjusted
by the injection of sodium hydroxide. The nano-
filtred water is mixed with water from the biological
treatment path in a ratio of 70–30%.
After 2 years of operation, the results can be
described under three headings:
1. Characteristics of the water distributed since
the introduction of nanofiltration;
2. Unit monitoring, membrane aging and clogging
control;
3. Evaluation of operation and maintenance costs.
2. Characteristics of the water distributed since
the introduction of nanofiltration
The nanofiltration membranes have proved to
be effective in reducing organic matter (Fig. 2).
The annual average of TOC in the water produced
has dropped from 1.8 to 0.67 mg/l. As a result,
72 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75

N a n o filtr a tio n fe e d P e rm e a t e
3 ,5

3
TOC in mg/l

2 ,5

1 ,5

0 ,5

0
0

1
1
0
...

/0

/0

/0

/0

/0

/0

/0

/0

/0
/0

...
/0

...

...

...
/5
/1

/4

/9

/1

/7

/1

/1
/1

/2

/6

/7

/1

/2

/3

/8
31

08

05
16

05

24

14

03

23

11

20

08

30

19

27

16
Date as day/month/year

Fig. 2. TOC content in feed water and permeate (as mg C/l).

the level of chlorine in the water leaving the plant 3. Unit monitoring, membrane aging and
has been reduced from 0.4 to 0.2 mg/l. Because clogging control
of the performance of the membranes, the operation
Monitoring and process control of the new
of the plant is no longer determined on the basis
nanofiltration plant is highly innovative [6]. All
of organic matter quantity in the River Oise. The
processes are entirely automated. The facility has
reduction in organic matter of the treated water
more than 1,000 computerized synoptic control
has resulted in significant stability in the level of
panels, 450 on-line sensors. The upper control level,
chlorine in the network and reduced the quantities
level 2, is a central calculator supervising the
injected at the network rechlorination stations.
entire facility. It receives information from the lower
In the distribution system, several changes
level (level 1). It is run by the plant pilot.
have been observed through measurement cam-
An automatic piloting system has been deve-
paigns in 2000 and 2001, among which:
loped, called level 3. It forecasts the volume to
• Reduction of TOC and BDOC by a factor 3 to 5. be produced by the plant and plans commands
• Reduction of THMs by a factor 2. for the following 24 h while taking into account
• Reduction of viable bacteria population by a many outside constraints (volumes, installation
factor 10.
unavailability, electricity contract, hydraulic and
• Reduction of chlorine demand of the distribution water quality parameters, etc.). It sends commands
system by a factor 3.
to the level 2, checks the good application of these
The water distributed no longer has a chlorine commands and alerts in case of dysfunction. It
taste. According to several opinion polls, the taste continuously examines the processes to anticipate
and the fact that the water is softer are the two dysfunction. It also stores all the events in the plant:
improvements most appreciated by consumers. it is the plant memory. Among other advantages,
Nanofiltration also reduces pesticides. During this tool brings an increased reliability and an
the summer of 2001, 850 ng/l of atrazine were optimization of the produced water. It has been
detected in the river water. However, the amount completely operative since the beginning of this
in the nanofiltred water remained below detection year.
level (50 ng/l).
 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75
3.1. Pretreatment monitoring and control
Upstream nanofiltration, the pretreatment role
is to ensure a stable quality of the water despite
the variations of the Oise turbidity (between 15
and 100 NTU). The different parameters that can
be piloted are [7]:
• Coagulant and polyelectrolyte rates for coagu-
lation
• Ozone rate
• Coagulant rate upstream dual-layer filtration
The objectives of the pretreatment are to:
• Minimize the number of particles after pre-
treatment: less than 200 particles (>1.5 µm)/ml
• Keep the fouling index below 3 units
• Keep dissolved aluminum below 20 µg/l
These values are continuously monitored. Tests
conducted in 2000 and 2001 have shown that the
optimal setting of the active parameters are:
• Polyelectrolyte rate = 0.2 g/m3
• Ozone = 1.2 g/m3
• Coagulant rate upstream filtration = 5 g/m3
The quantity of coagulant injected upstream
the ACTIFLO settler is automatically adjusted to
keep a turbidity of the settled water below 1.2 NTU.
3.2. Nanofiltration monitoring and control
Each block of membranes is monitored in real
time by a network of PLCs that manages all sensor
measurements. Flow rate, pressure and conductivity
detectors are installed on each block to continu-
ously measure water flow, water and salt perme-
ability and longitudinal head loss factors.
In addition, each membrane line also has an
individual control system that manages the sensor
measurements and calculations concerning the
line. The 8 control systems of the 8 lines are super-
vised by a central fail-safe control system that
manages the lines in relation to one another and
according to the total flow rate to be produced.
Membrane water permeabilities are stan-
dardized at 25°C. Longitudinal head losses are
standardized relative to the temperature and the
73
flow rate on the concentrate side. This leads to a
calculation of a head loss factor also standardized
at 25°C. The percentages of standardized perme-
ability loss or increase in the head loss factor
percentage, based on the initial condition of the
stage following cleaning, are calculated on the
basis of each of these parameters.
A 25% standardized water permeability loss
or an increase in the standardized longitudinal
head loss on one of the stages triggers a cleaning
order for the line involved.
To ensure this monitoring, it is very important
that the measurements given by the sensors be
reliable. Consequently, to validate the measure-
ments, calculations are carried out that check the
sensors against one another to see if there is a
drift in one or more of the devices. Coherence
checks are computed for intake and outlet flows,
intake pressures and longitudinal head losses, and
conductivity meters. When the error percentages
are too great (greater than 5% for flow rates and
pressures, and greater than 20% for the conduc-
tivity meters) sensor discordance alarms are
triggered, indicating that maintenance work needs
to be carried out. Most of the time, there is less
than 1% of errors recorded on the flow rate and
pressure balances, which shows the system
reliability.
The regeneration operations are fully automated,
and are carried out using chemicals stored on site:
two basic products (a detergent and sodium
carbonate), citric acid and an acid disinfectant.
Several regeneration modes can be programmed.
The standard procedure uses the basic detergent
(P3 Ultrasil 110 at 0.35%) at 30°C and citric acid
at 0.6%. Between the use of these products the
line is rinsed with water.
Fig. 3 shows the evolution of a line’s water
permeability from August 1999 to December 2001.
Although no clogging was observed during the
first cycles (after the normal initial fall), the first
cleaning operations seemed to affect the perme-
ability of the membranes. It is possible that during
the cleaning operations, intermediary rinsing
(between the detergent and the acid cleaning
74 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75

Stage 1
9
Stage 2
Stage 3
8
Standardized Water Permeability (l.h -1.m-2.bar-1)

(1 ) (2 ) (3 ) (4 ) (5 ) (6 ) (7 ) (8 ) (9 ) (1 0 ) (1 1 ) (1 2 ) (1 3 ) (1 4 ) (1 5 ) (1 6 ) (1 7 )
7

0
1 1 /8 /1 9 9 9 1 9 /1 1 /1 9 9 9 2 7 /2 /2 0 0 0 0 6 /6 /2 0 0 0 1 4 /9 /2 0 0 0 2 3 /1 2 /2 0 0 0 0 2 /4 /2 0 0 1 1 1 /7 /2 0 0 1 1 9 /1 0 /2 0 0 1

Date as day/month/year

Fig. 3. Monitoring of standardized water permeabilities for the three stages of line 1. Indication of the various cleaning
operations carried out.

operations) carried out using cold water did not winters in 2000 and 2001, and the use of new
fully rinse off the residual detergent, which then membranes. These conditions have resulted in
precipitated when it came into contact with the lower pressure than expected upstream of the
acid. The river water lowers in winter down to 1°C membranes. The energy is highly variable depending
and, as a result, the efficiency of rinsing operations on the temperature of the water: the high pressure
is diminished. pumping unit upstream nanofiltration consumes
The membrane cleaning procedure was a mean of 0.35 kWh/m3 and varies between 0.27
optimized based on these observed performances: in summer and 0.50 kWh/m3 in winter.
since February 2000, the membranes have been Globally, a simple rule can be drawn for
rinsed with water heated to about 35°C. The additional costs:
energy required to clean the membranes depends Electricity = Chemicals = Maintenance
on the temperature of the water and can reach = 0.015 € /m3
25 MWh.

4. Evaluation of operation and maintenance 5. Conclusion

costs The first 2 years of operations of the nano-
Additional costs associated with operating the filtration plant in Méry-sur-Oise represent a success.
new nanofiltration treatment path have been Water quality has been considerably improved
compared with the ones of the conventional while the additional costs have been lower than
treatment path (biological treatment with carbon foreseen.
ozone refining). The process control is efficient and the plant,
The cost of chemicals has been in line with which had been completely automated since the
forecasts. So far, electricity costs have been lower beginning, has now an automatic piloting system
than forecast, primarily for two reasons: mild entirely operational.
 B. Cyna et al. / Desalination 147 (2002) 69–75
The membrane permanent monitoring guaran-
tees the clogging control. Tests of several mem-
branes of each line are planned in 2002 to assess
their performances in time and to be able to
forecast their evolution and adjust the cleaning
procedure.
References
[1] C. Ventresque and G. Bablon, The integrated nano-
filtration system of the Méry-sur-Oise surface water
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[3] A. Boireau, J. Cavard and G. Randon, Positive action
of nanofiltration on materials in contact with drinking
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water. Proc. IWSA Corrosion Workshop, Buenos
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[4] C. Ventresque, V. Gisclon, G. Bablon and G. Chagneau,
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[5] C. Ventresque, G. Turner and G. Bablon, Nano-
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