Modelling of a membrane bioreactor system for municipal wastewater treatment

Wintgens, Thomas; Rosen, Joseph D.; Melin, Thomas; Brepols, Christoph; Drensla, K.; Engelhardt, N.

doi:10.1016/s0376-7388(03)00046-2

Cited by 100 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In particular, from the literature three MBR modeling approaches can be pin down [58]: biomass kinetic models, membrane fouling models and integrated models. The kinetic models are based on the activated sludge models (ASMs) which have been properly adapted [29].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fouling phenomenon in membrane bioreactors: Assessment of different strategies for energy saving

Mannina

Cosenza

2013

Journal of Membrane Science

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a b s t r a c tMembrane fouling represents one of the major issues for a membrane bioreactor (MBR). Membrane fouling and high aeration requirements (for inducing shear stress to limit fouling) make MBR operation economically demanding due to high energy costs. Although several studies on MBR fouling have been performed, comprehensive knowledge on how to reduce membrane fouling and consequently save energy is still lacking.An integrated mathematical model for MBR is applied to a University of Cape Town membrane bioreactor with the final aim to reduce the energy costs. In particular, the influence of the aeration intensity, the duration of filtration/backwashing cycles, and the number of membrane cleanings are investigated. Five scenarios are analyzed and compared, each implementing different operating conditions. The features of the analyzed scenarios are quantified by employing Monte Carlo simulations and performance indices partially drawn from literature. The results provide insights about the role played by the main physical/chemical/biological processes in view of a system optimization. As expected, MBR operation at low air flow rate (qa) leads to a substantial reduction of the operational costs (specifically, 20% with respect to the suggested manufacturers ones in terms of qa). Despite such a reduction of qa, a good effluent quality is also obtained as an effect of a high biological cake thickness. Results also show that the values of filtration time (Tf) higher than those suggested by manufacturers (e.g., Tf ¼ 9 min) can be used to increase effluent quality. This study demonstrates that both energy savings and effluent quality can be improved by varying the operational variables with respect to those of the suggested manufacture. One of the main insights gained from this study is that the values of the operating variables (i.e., qa, Tb and Tf) suggested by the manufactures can be changed to obtain a system that still respects high effluent quality and is characterized by lower economical cost. The proposed modeling approach can be an useful tool for the optimization of the operating conditions in order to reduce the operational costs for MBR systems.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fouling phenomenon in membrane bioreactors: Assessment of different strategies for energy saving

Mannina

Cosenza

2013

Journal of Membrane Science

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“…Many studies have been focused on the alleviation of membrane fouling, for example, by backwashing, aeration, intermittent suction, module modification, addition of an inorganic coagulant and addition of a membrane fouling reducer (1,13). Chlorine is the most frequently applied agent in the biofouling control, but its destructive effect on certain membrane material, especially on polyamide reverse osmosis (RO) membrane due to the residual concentration, have already been reported (31). Several antimicrobial chemical coatings have been tested on biomaterials to reduce the biofilms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

2(5H)-Furanone: a prospective strategy for biofouling-control in membrane biofilm bacteria by quorum sensing inhibition

Ponnusamy¹,

Paul²,

Kim³

et al. 2010

Braz. J. Microbiol.

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Biofouling of membranes demands costly periodic cleaning and membrane replacement. A sustainable and environmentally friendly solution for maintenance is not available and would be of great interest for many purposes including economical. As complex biofilm formation by environmental strains is the major cause of biofouling and biofilm formation in most cases are controlled by N-Acylhomoserine lactone (AHL)-mediated Quorum Sensing (QS). An effort was made to understand the appropriateness of 2(5H)-furanone, to use against biofouling of membranes. QS inhibition activity by 2(5H)-furanone was studied using bioindicator strains and known AHLs of different acyl chain lengths. The biofilm inhibition was studied by growth analysis on polystyrene plate of Aeromonas hyrdrophila, an environmental biofilm strain isolated from a bio-fouled reverse osmosis (RO) membrane. Results showed a QS inhibition activity against a wide range of AHLs and also biofilm formation by 2(5H)-furanone, which is believed to act as a potential quorum inhibition agent in a bacterial biofilm community.

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“…Previous studies have demonstrated that low pressure membrane flux is decreased dramatically due to pore constriction or blocking [45][46][47], because most foulant aggregates are deposited first onto the membrane surface and in the membrane pores. When cake layer becomes the main fouling mechanism, membrane flux declines relatively slowly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of aluminum speciation on ultrafiltration membrane fouling by low dose aluminum coagulation with bovine serum albumin (BSA)

Wang

et al. 2015

Journal of Membrane Science

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a b s t r a c tUp to now, many studies have focused on ultrafiltration (UF) membrane fouling when sweep flocculation is the main coagulation mechanism. However, there has been less focus on cases where charge neutralization is the main coagulation mechanism. Herein, UF membrane performance was investigated when bovine serum albumin (BSA) was coagulated with low dose aluminum chloride (AlCl 3 ) or polyaluminum chloride (PACl). For AlCl 3 or PACl, a large flux decline occurred at pH 5.5 and membrane fouling was steadily alleviated with increasing pH, resulting in a strong correlation between membrane flux and the corresponding solution pH. As pH rose, the proportions of Al ms (monomeric and small polymeric alum species) and Al u species (i.e., solid phase Al(OH) 3 ) gradually increased. A correlation was also observed between membrane flux and the proportions of Al ms and Al u . Compared with AlCl 3 , much more serious membrane fouling was induced when BSA was coagulated with PACl, owing to the lower proportions of Al ms and Al u species in the PACl system. For AlCl 3 , the potential fouling mechanism was pore constriction or blocking when the proportions of Al ms and Al u were lower than 62.3 75.1% (pH 6.0), followed by cake layer as the main fouling mechanism. For PACl, however, pore constriction or blocking occurred when the proportions of Al ms and Al u were lower than 35.473.2% (pH 6.5), and cake layer gradually became the main fouling mechanism.

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Modelling of a membrane bioreactor system for municipal wastewater treatment

Cited by 100 publications

References 13 publications

The fouling phenomenon in membrane bioreactors: Assessment of different strategies for energy saving

The fouling phenomenon in membrane bioreactors: Assessment of different strategies for energy saving

2(5H)-Furanone: a prospective strategy for biofouling-control in membrane biofilm bacteria by quorum sensing inhibition

Effect of aluminum speciation on ultrafiltration membrane fouling by low dose aluminum coagulation with bovine serum albumin (BSA)

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