A review of practical tools for rapid monitoring of membrane bioreactors

Abstract

The production of high quality effluent from membrane bioreactors (MBRs) arguably requires less supervision than conventional activated sludge (CAS) processes. Nevertheless, the use of membranes brings additional issues of activated sludge filterability, cake layer formation and membrane fouling. From a practical standpoint, process engineers and operators require simple tools which offer timely information about the biological health and filterability of the mixed liquor as well as risks of membrane fouling. To this end, a range of analytical tools and biological assays are critically reviewed from this perspective. This review recommends that Capillary Suction Time (CST) analysis along with Total Suspended and Volatile Solids (TSS/VSS) analysis is used daily. For broad characterisation, total carbon and nitrogen analysis offer significant advantages over the commonly used chemical and biological oxygen demand (COD/BOD) analyses. Of the technologies for determining the vitality of the microbial biomass the most robust and reproducible, are the second generation adenosine-5'-triphosphate (ATP) test kits. Extracellular polymer concentrations are best monitored by measurement of turbidity after centrifugation. Taken collectively these tools can be used routinely to ensure timely intervention and smoother operation of MBR systems.

Archives of Environmental Protection

“…This means that some of the oxygen used in biochemical decomposition was utilized for the oxidation of ammonium nitrogen. Previous studies confi rm this observation (Scholes et al 2016, Siwiec et al 2012, demonstrating that nitrifi cation of ammonium compounds infl uences the measurement of BOD 5 earlier than from day fi ve on, as usually reported in the literature (Miksch 2000). By analyzing the functions BOD 5 =f(COD Cr ) and BOD 5inh = f(COD Cr ) (Fig.…”

Membrane bioreactors – A review on recent developments in energy reduction, fouling control, novel configurations, LCA and market prospects

“…These R&D efforts and continuous interest in MBR technology has led to an increased number of academic publications and MBR-related reviews in the recent years. Current reviews focused on aspects, such as fouling characterization, visualization and foulants identification [1,2], modelling [3][4][5], membrane cleaning [6], addition of activated carbon [7], fouling control [8], process monitoring [9], osmotic MBRs [10][11][12], removal of pharmaceutical compounds/CECs [13] and treatment of industrial wastewaters [14,15]. However, recent developments often resulting in novel configurations or focused on aspects related to energy reduction has attracted little attention.…”

Integrated membrane bioreactors modelling: A review on new comprehensive modelling framework

“…The introduction of these aspects in a hybrid model may provide for some cases a reasonable approach to evaluate membrane fouling (Ahn et al, 2006). Some reviews were published on this matter with the aim to address the aspects of MBR biomass kinetic modelling (Zuthi et al, 2012;Scholes et al, 2016), which can be consulted to a more detailed approach.…”