Dear Benito!  DAF or ...

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Dear Benito! 
DAF or another microflotation technology is the the only proper pretreatment for UF&RO if there is risk of algae blooms and if combined well with flocculation. In my experience, microalgae can be removed well given optimal conditions. 

Media filters clog very fast during an algae bloom or let too much algae through. UF alone will not be capable to operate during a heavy algae bloom, but might be a good pretreatment for RO in regular conditions (I guess, that is what Nikolay referred to). DAF has a very high energy consumption though, especially in warm and saline waters. An alternative for DAF+UF is akvoFloat including a different energy and cost saving technology for flotation.

Regarding your initial question: I think it will be hard to give you numbers. In many cases, a DAF is installed to be operated during algae bloom only. So, the reason to install a DAF is a high probability of algae blooms (everywhere in the Persian Gulf e.g.) and at those events all given parameters increase dramatically during a couple of days or hours. 

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Very rightly said n moreover daf sometimes won't work in full capacity n turbidity of water is high difficult to work.

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Hi Johanna,
thanks for your feedback. Yes I guess it is not easy to set up parameters and mostly DAF is in operation during algae blooms. But suppliers needs to decide whether it is necessary or not, depending on the seawater analysis provided by the clients. My point is that I have seen some recent plants where DAF has not been selected. Only DMF or UF has been installed. I'm trying to find out if there are new developments in UF or DMF allow for removal of algae during red tide events without DAF system
Regarding akvoFloat, is ti already under operation for seawater desalination plants?

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