Fe(II)-dosed ceramic membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment: Nutrient removal, microbial community and membrane fouling analysis

Thousands of sparsely populated communities scatter in the remote areas of northern Canada. It is economically preferable to adopt the decentralized systems to treat the domestic wastewater because of the vast human inhabitant distribution and cold climatic conditions. Electro-technologies such as electrofiltration, elctrofloatation, electrocoagulation and electrokinetic separation have been applied in water and conventional wastewater treatment for decades due to the minimum requirements of chemicals as well as ease of operation. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) is gaining popularity in recent years as an alternative water/wastewater treatment technology. However, few studies have been conducted to hyphenate these two technologies. The purpose of this work is to design a novel electrically enhanced membrane bioreactor (EMBR) as an alternative decentralized wastewater treatment system with improved nutrient removal and reduced membrane fouling. Two identical submerged membranes (GE ZW-1 hollow fiber module) were used for the experiment, with one as a control. The EMBR and control MBR were operated for 4 months at room temperature (20 ± 2 °C) with synthetic feed and 2 months at 10 °C with real sewage. The following results were observed: (1) the transmembrane pressure (TMP) increased significantly more slowly in the EMBR and the interval between the cleaning cycles of the EMBR increased at least twice; (2) the dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD) or total organic carbon (TOC) in the EMBR biomass was reduced from 30 to 51%, correspondingly, concentrations of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), the major suspicious membrane foulants, decreased by 26–46% in the EMBR; (3) both control and EMBR removed >99% of ammonium-N and >95% of dissolved COD, in addition, ortho-P removal in the EMBR was >90%, compared with 47–61% of ortho-P removal in the MBR; and (4) the advantage of the EMBR over the conventional MBR in terms of membrane fouling retardation and phosphorus removal was further demonstrated at an operating temperature of 10 °C when fed with real sewage. The EMBR system has the potential for highly automated control and minimal maintenance, which is particularly suitable for remote northern applications.

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Application of a specific membrane fouling control enhancer in membrane bioreactor for real municipal wastewater treatment: Sludge characteristics and microbial community

Bioresource Technology ◽

10.1016/j.biortech.2020.123612 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 312 ◽

pp. 123612 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lijuan Deng ◽

Wenshan Guo ◽

Huu Hao Ngo ◽

Xiaochang C. Wang ◽

Yisong Hu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Membrane Bioreactor ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽

Sludge Characteristics ◽

Fouling Control ◽

Specific Membrane

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Pilot Scale Study on Biological Nutrient Removal and Membrane Fouling Alleviation in Combined Membrane Bioreactor for Municipal Wastewater Treatment

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.365.354 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 365 ◽

pp. 354-360 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Shuo Liu ◽

Ji Fu Wang ◽

Bao Zhen Wang ◽

Bing Wang ◽

Wei Wan

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Nutrient Removal ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Membrane Bioreactor ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Removal Rate ◽

Oxygen Demand ◽

Biological Nutrient Removal ◽

Municipal Wastewater Treatment ◽

Nutrient Removal Rate

To solve the problem of eutrophication in receiving water, a novel Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) with combined configuration was designed for municipal wastewater treatment and reclamation. By dividing bioreactor into three zones, the combined MBR operated under anoxic, anaerobic and aerobic conditions. It provided optimum conditions for nitrification, denitrifying and phosphate accumulating bacterial growth which resulted in high biological nutrient removal rate directly. The operational performance of combined MBR pilot plant showed that it exhibited high nutrient removal rate on Chemical oxygen demand (CODcr), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP). The mean value of effluent CODcr, TN and TP removal rate was 90.63%, 63.05% and 60.51% respectively during 180 days of operation. In order to obtain stable membrane flux, the combined MBR packed with fibrous bio-film carrier and added diatomite. Furthermore, it could alleviate membrane fouling effectively. As a result, the combined MBR improved effluent water quality significantly and alleviated membrane fouling remarkably.

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Comparison of long-term ceramic membrane bioreactors without and with in-situ ozonation in wastewater treatment: Membrane fouling, effluent quality and microbial community

The Science of The Total Environment ◽

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.284 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 652 ◽

pp. 788-799 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Shengyin Tang ◽

Jiayang Li ◽

Zhenghua Zhang ◽

Baoyu Ren ◽

Xihui Zhang

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Microbial Community ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Ceramic Membrane ◽

Membrane Bioreactors ◽

Effluent Quality

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Ultrafiltration of activated sludge with ceramic membranes in a cross-flow membrane bioreactor process

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.2000.0653 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 41 (10-11) ◽

pp. 243-250 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

X-j. Fan ◽

V. Urbain ◽

Y. Qian ◽

J. Manem

Keyword(s):

Wastewater Treatment ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Membrane Bioreactor ◽

Municipal Wastewater ◽

Ceramic Membrane ◽

Treatment Plant ◽

Cross Flow ◽

Ceramic Membranes ◽

Permeate Flux ◽

Chemical Cleaning

A cross-flow membrane bioreactor (MBR) for raw municipal wastewater treatment, consisting of a suspended growth bioreactor and a ceramic membrane ultrafiltration unit, was run over a period of more than 300 days in a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). Sludge Retention Times (SRT) of 20, 10 and 5 days, respectively, and Hydraulic Retention Times (HRT) of 15 and 7.5 hours were tested. Membrane fouling was found to be a function of SRT and permeate flux. Under an SRT of 20 days and flux of 71 l/m2\ · h at 30°C, the MBR was successfully run over 70 days without the need for chemical cleaning. However chemical cleaning had to be undertaken every 3–5 days at shorter sludge retention times (typically an SRT of five days and a flux of 143 l/m2\ · h at 30°C). In this study, fouling materials were removed efficiently through chemical cleaning, with an average permeablity recovery of 87±11%.

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Effects of Solids Retention Time on the Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor with Yttria-Based Ceramic Membrane Treating Domestic Wastewater at Ambient Temperature

Membranes ◽

10.3390/membranes10090196 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 196

Author(s):

Rathmalgodage Thejani Nilusha ◽

Dawei Yu ◽

Junya Zhang ◽

Yuansong Wei

Keyword(s):

Microbial Community ◽

Ambient Temperature ◽

Membrane Fouling ◽

Membrane Bioreactor ◽

Extracellular Polymeric Substances ◽

Ceramic Membrane ◽

Oxygen Demand ◽

Domestic Wastewater ◽

Archaeal Community ◽

Stable Operation

The effects of solid retention times (SRTs) (100 days, 50 days, 25 days) on the performance, microbial community, and membrane fouling of a lab-scale anaerobic yttria-based ceramic membrane bioreactor (AnCMBR) treating synthetic domestic wastewater at ambient temperature (31.2 ± 2.7 °C) were examined. The soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removal was higher (89.6%) at 25 days SRT compared with 50 days (39.61%) and 100 days (34.3%) SRT. At 100 days SRT, more Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria were present in the microbial community. At 25 days SRT, more Chloroflexi, Synergistetes, and Pastescibacteria emerged, contributing to the stable performance. The SRT of 25 days has resulted in a more stable microbial community compared with 50 days and 100 days SRT. Both bacterial and archaeal community diversities were higher at 25 days SRT, and the specific production of soluble microbial by-products (SMPs) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPSs) were higher at 25 days SRT as well. Consequently, the membrane flux was lower at 25 days SRT with the increased particle size and the enhanced SMPs and EPSs production. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis (FTIR) and three-dimensional excitation and emission matrix (3D-EEM) analysis showed that protein and SMPs were the major membrane foulants at all SRT stages. In this study, SRT at 25 days was favorable for the stable operation of an AnCMBR treating domestic wastewater at ambient temperature.

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