Pilot-scale anaerobic submerged membrane bioreactor (AnSMBR) treating municipal wastewater: the fouling phenomenon and long-term operation

Abstract

An anaerobic submerged membrane bioreactor (AnSMBR) on pilot-scale treating a mixture composed of municipal wastewater and glucose under mesophilic temperature conditions was operated for 206 days. The performance of the AnSMBR was evaluated at different fluxes, biomass concentrations and gas sparging velocities (GSV). GSV was used to control fouling. In addition, the AnSMBR was operated in cycles that included relaxation and backwashing phases. The increase in the transmembrane pressure (fouling rate) was measured under different operational conditions and was used to evaluate the stability of the process. The fouling rate could be controlled for a long period of time at a flux of 7 l m(-2) h(-1) with a GSV of 62 m/h and an average biomass concentration of 14.8 g TSS/L. The membrane was physically cleaned after 156 days of operation. The cleaning efficiency was almost 100% indicating that no irreversible fouling was developed inside the pores of the membrane. The COD removal efficiency was close to 90%. As in anaerobic processes, nutrients were not exposed to degradation and almost no pathogens were found in the effluent, hence the effluent could be used for irrigation in agriculture.

Energy and greenhouse gas life cycle assessment and cost analysis of aerobic and anaerobic membrane bioreactor systems: Influence of scale, population density, climate, and methane recovery

“…While AeMBRs are largely commercialized at the scales investigated, the data behind the AnMBR model is based on bench-scale and pilot scale systems (Feickert et al, 2012;Martinez-Sosa et al, 2011;Smith et al, 2012). Although the AnMBR data is from benchscale and pilot scale systems, data for industrial scale membranes were utilized (Giménez et al, 2011).…”

Sub-critical long-term operation of industrial scale hollow-fibre membranes in a submerged anaerobic MBR (HF-SAnMBR) system

“…For instance, Martinez-Sosa et al [32] achieved proper long-term operation of membranes (resulting in low fouling rates) at J values of up to 10 LMH and TSS levels of up to 15 g L -1 . However, above these J values a considerable increase in fouling rate was observed since the critical flux was established at 7 LMH for similar TSS.…”

Membrane biofilm development improves COD removal in anaerobic membrane bioreactor wastewater treatment

“…The recent recognition of the potential benefits of AnMBR treatment of domestic wastewater compared with conventional activated sludge treatment has resulted in a surge in AnMBR research activity (e.g. Yoo et al ., 2012 ; Ma et al ., 2013 ; Smith et al ., 2015 ) and pilot-scale evaluations (Dagnew et al ., 2011 ; Gimenez et al ., 2011 ; Martinez-Sosa et al ., 2011 ; Robles et al ., 2013 ; Shin et al ., 2014 ; Gouveia et al ., 2015 ). As the pumping energy demand needed for membrane filtration increases during the development of a membrane fouling layer, membrane fouling has received considerable attention in AnMBR research (Gao et al ., 2010 ; Huang et al ., 2011 ; Yang et al ., 2011 ; Chen et al ., 2012 ; Kola et al ., 2014 ).…”