The biological treatment of synthetic fracking fluid in an extractive membrane bioreactor: Selective transport and biodegradation of hydrophobic and hydrophilic contaminants

Abstract

This completion of this thesis owes a debt of gratitude to many individuals who have supported me through this arduous process. Many thanks are owed to Dr. Andrew Daugulis for his mentorship, guidance, availability and especially patience throughout this project. Personal thanks are owed to him for his commitment to making me a better scientist. Additional thanks are owed to him for helping me invoke my intrinsic curiosity and predilection for solving unanswered questions throughout the duration of this project. I would additionally like to thank all members of the staff at Queen's, who have made my work more enjoyable and aided in my understanding of graduate life. I would personally like to thank Dr. Ying Zhang for his friendship and technical expertise, without it I would still be stuck trying to fix our GC. I would also like to thank Rachel Vincent, my lab mate for making my time in the lab more enjoyable. I would like to thank my dad Robert Mullins for his support throughout this process. I would also like to thank my mom Mary-Beth Lester, for her unconditional support and keeping me optimistic throughout all my struggles and adjustments. I would also like to thank my grandparents Bill and Carol Lester for their ever-so curious attitude and general support regarding my research project, which is hard to find. I would also very much like to thank my girlfriend Katrina Kryza who moved 7 hours from home with me to support my dreams. Her enthusiasm and support for me throughout this 2-year project have helped me develop into a better person. She has never ceased to be my guiding star on the darkest of nights. vi

Wastewater Treatment Using Membrane Bioreactor Technologies: Removal of Phenolic Contaminants from Oil and Coal Refineries and Pharmaceutical Industries

“…to preferentially transport the organic chemicals across the membrane for biological breakdown. The report showed a 99% removal of benzene and phenol, a 96% removal of methylethylketone, and a 53% removal of acetic acid by a continuous EMBR operation [162].…”

Membrane design for extractive membrane bioreactor (EMBR): Mass transport, developments, and deployment

“…Over conventional technologies, the MBR possess several advantages, including smaller footprints, higher effluent quality, better microbial separation, controlled solids retention time (SRT) and hydraulic retention time (HRT), lesser sludge bulking and higher biomass contents, lower sludge production [16,17]. In particular, the extractive membrane bioreactor (EMBR) is regarded as a competitive technology as it requires less energy, produces high-quality water, has higher removal efficiency with zero byproducts [18][19][20]. In this process, a dense membrane controls the migration of pollutant from the feed side (potentially hostile wastewater) into biomedium (receiving side) to enable biodegradation to occur, based on a solution-diffusion mechanism.…”

“…These issues hinder the beneficiary of EMBR by increasing the maintenance cost and reducing the extraction efficiency [26][27][28]. As in EMBR process, the extraction efficiency highly depends on the selectivity and placement of the membrane.…”