Wastewater treatment with anaerobic membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (5) ◽  
pp. 211-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Grundestam ◽  
D. Hellström

Domestic wastewater from a new city district in Stockholm has been treated by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AMBR) followed by reverse osmosis (RO). The main objectives were to study the gas production, the reduction of organic matter and nutrient recovery. The AMBR was operated at 22 °C (equal to the average temperature in the influent) and a hydraulic retention time of 0.6 d. The results show that the reduction of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus over the AMBR was approximately 92, 9 and 9%, respectively. A stable gas production was registered throughout the evaluation period. The overall removal efficiency, i.e. including the RO, was >99% for TOC, >91% for Kj-N and about 99% for P. Adding a reverse osmosis (RO) unit to the AMBR makes it possible to produce a concentrated, nutrient rich product well suited for agricultural use. The quality of the concentrate is, in terms of nutrient concentration and heavy metal content, similar to source separated human urine, i.e. nitrogen content about 3 g N/L and <2 mg Cd/kg P. However, addition of acid is required to prevent precipitation/fouling of the RO. The total electricity use for operation for the system, including the RO-unit, is estimated to be 3–6 kWh/m3.

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 465-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Kim ◽  
H.-S. Kim ◽  
I.-T. Yeom ◽  
Y.-B. Chae

A full-scale plant of an MBR system treating livestock wastewater has shown impressive results. The Cheorwon County Environmental Authorities adopted the MBR process with UF membrane for retrofitting the old plant, which removes organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus at a high level. According to 6 months operation data, BOD and SS removal were about 99.9% and CODMn, TN and TP removal were 92.0%, 98.3% and 82.7%, respectively. It is considered that the temperature at the bioreactor has to be controlled to be below 40 °C so as to ensure sufficient nitrification. It appeared that the MBR system is competitive with other conventional technologies for treatment of livestock wastewater such as piggery waste.


Processes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nsanzumukiza Martin Vincent ◽  
Juan Tong ◽  
Dawei Yu ◽  
Junya Zhang ◽  
Yuansong Wei

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thi Thu Nga Vu ◽  
Manon Montaner ◽  
Christelle Guigui

Wastewater effluents can be treated by an integrated membrane system combining membrane bioreactor (MBR) and reverse osmosis (RO) for effective removal of micropollutants in the field of high-quality water reuse. However, discharging the RO concentrate waste stream directly into the natural environment could lead to serious problems due to the toxic components contained in the concentrates (micropollutants, salts, organic matter). A possible solution could be the recirculation of RO concentrate waste to the MBR. However, such an operation should be studied in detail since the recirculation of non-biodegradable organic matter or high concentrations of salts and micropollutants could directly or indirectly contribute to MBR membrane fouling and modification of the biodegradation activity. In this context, the work reported here focused on the recirculation of such concentrates in an MBR, paying specific attention to MBR membrane fouling. Lab-scale experiments were performed on a continuous MBR-RO treatment line with RO concentrate recirculation. The main goal was to determine the recovery of the RO unit and of the global process that maintained good process performance in terms of biodegradation and MBR fouling. The results demonstrate that the impact of the toxic flow on activated sludge depends on the recovery of the RO step but the same trends were observed regardless of the organic matter and salt contents of the concentrates: the concentration of proteins increased slightly. Size-exclusion high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC-SEC) was employed to study the effects of RO concentrate on the production of protein-like soluble microbial products (SMPs) and demonstrated a significant peak of protein-like substances corresponding to 10-100 kDa and 100-1 000 kDa molecules in the supernatant. Thus a significant increase in the propensity for sludge fouling was observed, which could be attributed to the increased quantity of protein-like substances. Finally, the effect of the concentrate on sludge activity was studied and no significant effect was observed on biodegradation, indicating that the return of the concentrate to the MBR could be a good alternative.


1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 75-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Bogte ◽  
A. M. Breure ◽  
J. G. van Andel ◽  
G. Lettinga

A survey was made on the feasibility of on-site anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater from small scale emissions in The Netherlands. Three 1.2 m3 UASB-reactors (Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket) were tested in different rural locations. The survey made clear that the efficiency of the process is highly dependent on the reactor temperature. Below 12 °C purification was predominantly based on settling, while above 12 °C microbial degradation of organic matter increased. Efficiencies for the removal of total COD and BOD of two of the reactors ranged between 33 and 60%, equalising well performing septic tanks. In one of the reactors the average production of biogas, with a methane content of 78%, was 67 liters per day. Complete transformation of volatile fatty acids (VFA) into biogas was achieved during 3 to 4 months a year at temperatures above 15 °C. In this period, during the second year of operation, the average efficiencies for COD and BOD removal were 60 and 72% respectively, while the maximum gas production reached 300 liters per day. In the latter period the mineralisation rate exceeded the input rate of organic matter, resulting in a decrease of settled material in the reactor. The possibility of high efficiencies during summertime in The Netherlands and the positive results of similar experiments in Indonesia and Latin America lead to the conclusion that anaerobic digestion is a promising process for the (pre-)treatment of domestic waste water in (sub)tropical countries.


2000 ◽  
Vol 41 (10-11) ◽  
pp. 217-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.T. Seo ◽  
T.S. Lee ◽  
B.H. Moon ◽  
J.H. Lim ◽  
K.S. Lee

A submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) was operated in 2-stage intermittent aeration for simultaneous removal of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus. The system consists of two reactors with a total volume of 0.27 m3 (1st reactor 0.09 m3 and 2nd 0.18 m3). Real domestic wastewater was used as influent to the system. Membrane used for this experiment was hollow fiber polyethylene membrane with pore size of 0.1μm and effective surface area, 4 m2. The membrane was submerged in the 2nd reactor for suction type filtration. Experiment was carried out in two phases varying the time cycles of aeration and non-aeration. SRT was maintained at 25 days and HRT, 16–19 hours. MLSS concentration in the reactors was in the range of 2,700–3,400 mg/l. The MLSS internal recycling ratio was maintained at 100% of influent flow rate. When time cycles of aeration and non-aeration were set at 30/90 min and 60/60 min in reactor 1 and 2, the removal of BOD and COD was 98.3% and 95.6%, respectively. A relatively low nitrogen and phosphorus removal was observed in this condition (73.6% as T–N and 46.6% as T–P). However, with 60/60 min intermittent aeration conditions for both reactors, the removal rate of nitrogen and phosphorus for two weeks steady state were enhanced to 91.6% as TN and 66% as TP, respectively. Further a high organic removal (98% BOD and 96.2% COD) was achieved too. In these conditions, the membrane of flux declined from 0.1 m/d to 0.08 m/d and suction filtration was at 10–12 kPa for a month long operation period.


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