In Taipa-Macau (China) the three existing lanes fitted with an SBR system (69.000 m³/day) has been upgraded with a new Submerged UltraFiltration (SUF) post-treatment system. This implementation is part of a multi-year exploitation and an Engineering, Procurement & Construction project which was awarded to Waterleau Group in 2017.

The biological effluent is effectively pretreated by disc filters which is fitted on each of the three treatment lanes. The prefiltered effluent is subsequently fed into the three lanes of SUF systems, each containing 12.870 m² (198 x 65 m²/module) of hollow fibers. These are internally supported by BOW-membranes (Beijing Origin water) which have a narrow pore size distribution (0,02‑0,03 µm) to ensure high filtration accuracy. The system works in continuous cycles of feed, filtrate and bleed (back to WWTP) in which high fluxes (30–50 LMH) can be achieved at low TMP (<50 mbar). During the measurement campaign following reductions where achieved:

• the TSS of the biological effluent from 16,6 to 3,7 mg/L
• the effluent COD from 56 to 36 mg/L
• the effluent BOD₅ from 7,5 to 5,1 mg/L.

The obtained effluent is then further disinfected and therefore suitable for irrigation purposes.