scholarly journals Treatment of Septic Tank Effluent by Membrane Bioreactor: A Laboratory–scale Feasibility Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C–Y. Chang ◽  
Roger Ben Aim ◽  
S. Vigneswaran ◽  
J–S. Chang ◽  
S–L. Chen

A laboratory scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) fed on real septic tank effluent was studied at different levels of alkalinity (0, 250 and 500 mg NaHCO3/L addition) and sludge retention time (SRT, complete sludge retention, 10 and 20 days). A long–term operation of 267 days was divided into 5 stages to examine the SRT and alkalinity influences on parameters related to nitrification, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production and membrane cleaning. The results of the study showed that the removals of TCOD, SCOD and NH4+–N varied between 86–94%, 71–86%, and 70–94%, respectively. Appropriate alkalinity supplement and SRT control can enhance the COD removal and nitrification. Irreversible membrane fouling occurred fast and water cleaning for the improvement of filtration capacity was ineffective. The results also revealed that the rejection of EPS played a major role both in the enhancement of removal efficiency as well as the increase of filtration resistance during the operation.

2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 1906-1912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simos Malamis ◽  
Andreas Andreadakis ◽  
Daniel Mamais ◽  
Constantinos Noutsopoulos

The aim of this work was to evaluate the long-term performance of a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) that operated continuously for 2.5 years and to assess membrane fouling and biomass activity under various operating conditions. Furthermore, a method for the characterisation of influent wastewater was developed based on its separation into various fractions. The MBR system operated at the solids retention times (SRT) of 10, 15, 20 and 33 days. The increase of SRT resulted in a decrease of the fouling rate associated with the reduction of extracellular polymeric substances. Moreover, the SRT increase resulted in a significant reduction of the Oxygen Uptake Rate (OUR) due to the lower availability of substrate and in a notable decrease of the maximum OUR since high SRT allowed the development of slower growing microorganisms. Biomass consisted of small flocs due to extensive deflocculation caused by intense aeration. Finally, the method developed for wastewater characterisation is straightforward and less time consuming than the usual method that is employed.


RSC Advances ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (50) ◽  
pp. 31364-31372
Author(s):  
Mengjing Cao ◽  
Yongxiang Zhang ◽  
Yan Zhang

A novel and amplifying anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactor was constructed and operated for a long time (204 days) with synthetic glucose solution having an average chemical oxygen demand (COD) of 315 mg L−1, at different applied voltages and room temperatures.


2004 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Itonaga ◽  
Y. Watanabe

This paper deals with the performance of a hybrid membrane bioreactor (MBR) combined with pre-coagulation/sedimentation. Primary clarifier effluent in a municipal wastewater treatment plant was fed into the hybrid MBR to investigate its performance during long-term operation. Pre-coagulation/sedimentation process efficiently removed the suspended solids including organic matter and phosphorus. Comparison of the hybrid MBR and conventional MBR was made in terms of the permeate quality and membrane fouling. As the organic loading to the MBR was significantly reduced by the pre-coagulation/sedimentation, production and accumulation of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) may be limited. Therefore, the mixed liquor viscosity in the hybrid MBR was much lower than that in the conventional MBR. These effect caused by pre-coagulation/sedimentation brought a remarkable improvement in both permeate quality and membrane permeability.


2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (9) ◽  
pp. 2202-2210
Author(s):  
Jia Liu ◽  
Wei Zuo ◽  
Yu Tian ◽  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Hui Li ◽  
...  

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) coupled with a worm reactor (SSBWR) was designed as SSBWR-MBR for sewage treatment and excess sludge reduction. However, total phosphorus (TP) release caused by worm predation in the SSBWR could increase the effluent TP concentration in the SSBWR-MBR. To decrease the amount of TP excreted, chemical treatment reactor was connected after the SSBWR-MBR to remove the excess phosphorus (P). The effects of chemical treatment at different time intervals on the performance of the SSBWR-MBR were assessed. The results showed that a maximum TP removal efficiency of 21.5 ± 1.0% was achieved in the SSBWR-MBR after chemical treatment. More importantly, a higher sulfate concentration induced by chemical treatment could promote TP release in the SSBWR, which provided further TP removal from the SSBWR-MBR. Additionally, chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of the SSBWR-MBR was increased by 1.3% after effective chemical treatment. In the SSBWR-MBR, the chemical treatment had little effects on NH3-N removal and sludge production. Eventually, chemical treatment also alleviated the membrane fouling in the SSBWR-MBR. In this work, the improvement on TP, COD removal and membrane fouling alleviation was achieved in the SSBWR-MBR using additional chemical treatment.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 982 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Kulesha ◽  
Zakhar Maletskyi ◽  
Harsha Ratnaweera

Membrane fouling highly limits the development of Membrane bioreactor technology (MBR), which is among the key solutions to water scarcity. The current study deals with the determination of the fouling propensity of filtered biomass in a pilot-scale biofilm membrane bioreactor to enable the prediction of fouling intensity. The system was designed to treat domestic wastewater with the application of ceramic microfiltration membranes. Partial least squares regression analysis of the data obtained during the long-term operation of the biofilm-MBR (BF-MBR) system demonstrated that Mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS), diluted sludge volume index (DSVI), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and their slopes are the most significant for the estimation and prediction of fouling intensity, while normalized permeability and its slope were found to be the most reliable fouling indicators. Three models were derived depending on the applied operating conditions, which enabled an accurate prediction of the fouling intensities in the system. The results will help to prevent severe membrane fouling via the change of operating conditions to prolong the effective lifetime of the membrane modules and to save energy and resources for the maintenance of the system.


Membranes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 196
Author(s):  
Rathmalgodage Thejani Nilusha ◽  
Dawei Yu ◽  
Junya Zhang ◽  
Yuansong Wei

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.


Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (16) ◽  
pp. 2867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros K. Gkotsis ◽  
Anastasios I. Zouboulis

Biomass characteristics are regarded as particularly influential for fouling in Membrane Bio-Reactors (MBRs). They primarily include the Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS), the colloids and the Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS). Among them, the soluble part of EPS, which is also known as Soluble Microbial Products (SMP), is the most significant foulant, i.e., it is principally responsible for membrane fouling and affects all fundamental fouling indices, such as the Trans-Membrane Pressure (TMP) and the membrane resistance and permeability. Recent research in the field of MBRs, tends to consider the carbohydrate fraction of SMP (SMPc) the most important characteristic for fouling, mainly due to the hydrophilic and gelling properties, which are exhibited by polysaccharides and allow them to be easily attached on the membrane surface. Other wastewater and biomass characteristics, which affect indirectly membrane fouling, include temperature, viscosity, dissolved oxygen (DO), foaming, hydrophobicity and surface charge. The main methods employed for the characterization and assessment of biomass quality, in terms of filterability and fouling potential, can be divided into direct (such as FDT, SFI, TTF100, MFI, DFCM) or indirect (such as CST, TOC, PSA, RH) methods, and they are shortly presented in this review.


2017 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 1939-1949 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Bu ◽  
Shiyun Du ◽  
Li Xie ◽  
Rong Cao ◽  
Qi Zhou

Swine manure wastewater was treated in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) that combined a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR) and a hollow-fiber ultrafiltration membrane, and the feasibility of ammonia and phosphorus recovery in the permeate was investigated. The AnMBR system was operated steadily with a high mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration of 32.32 ± 6.24 g/L for 120 days, achieving an average methane yield of 280 mL/gVSadded and total chemical oxygen demand removal efficiency of 96%. The methane yield of the AnMBR is 83% higher than that of the single CSTR. The membrane fouling mechanism was examined, and MLSS and the polysaccharide contents of the extracellular polymeric substances were found to be the direct causes of membrane fouling. The effects of the permeation/relaxation rate and physical, chemical cleaning on membrane fouling were assessed for membrane fouling control, and results showed that a decrease in the permeation/relaxation rate together with chemical cleaning effectively reduced membrane fouling. In addition, a crystallization process was used for ammonia and phosphorus recovery from the permeate, and pH 9 was the optimal condition for struvite formation. The study has an instructive significance to the industrial applications of AnMBRs in treating high strength wastewater with nutrient recovery.


2012 ◽  
Vol 549 ◽  
pp. 491-495
Author(s):  
Wan You Zhang ◽  
Xin Yan Wang ◽  
Li Juan Xi

In order to study the relationship between extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and membrane fouling, the effect of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) on the operation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) was investigated in this paper. The operation of membrane was analyzed by evaluating sludge volume index (SVI), modified fouling index (MFI), and membrane resistance (Rt), respectively. The results showed that SVI, MFI, and Rt increased with the accumulation of EPS, and membrane fouling aggravated with the increase of EPS, this illustrated that the content of EPS had a direct influence on SVI, MFI, Rt and membrane fouling. The consequences could offer a simple method to monitor the concentration of EPS by analyzing SVI, MFI, or Rt.


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