Treatment of Wastewater Containing Phenol Using a Tubular Ceramic Membrane Bioreactor

Abstract

The performance of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) with a tubular ceramic membrane for phenol removal was evaluated under varying hydraulic retention times (HRT) and a fixed sludge residence time (SRT) of 30 days. The tubular ceramic membrane was operated with a mode of 15 minutes of filtration followed by 15 seconds of permeate backwashing at a flux of 250 l m(-2)hr(-1) along with an extended backwashing of 30 seconds every 3 hours of operation, which maintained the transmembrane pressure (TMP) below 100 kPa. Using a simulated municipal wastewater with varying phenol concentrations, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and phenol removals observed were greater than 88% with excellent suspended solids (SS) removal of 100% at low phenol concentrations (approx. 100 mg l(-1) of phenol). Step increases in phenol concentration showed that inhibition was observed between 600 to 800 mg l(-1) of phenol with decreased sludge production rate, mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration, and removal performance. The sludge volume index (SVI) of the biomass increased to about 450 ml g(-1) for a phenol input concentration of 800 mg l(-1). When the phenol concentration was decreased to 100 mg l(-1), the ceramic tubular MBR was found to recover rapidly indicating that the MBR is a robust system retaining most of the biomass. Experimental runs using wastewater containing phenol indicated that the MBR can be operated safely without upsets for concentrations up to 600 mg l(-1) of phenol at 2-4 hours HRT and 30 days SRT.

Reducing the pollutant load of olive mill wastewater by photocatalytic membranes and monitoring the process using both tyrosinase biosensor and COD test

“…For fabricating this ceramic membrane these raw materials were mixed and a body slip prepared (Almandoza et al, 2004; Saffaj et al, 2004, 2006; Ersu and Ong, 2008; Palacio et al, 2009; Jeonghwan and Van der Bruggen, 2010). Lastly, the dry ceramic membrane was fired at 950°C.…”

Removal of Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) Using a Membrane Bioreactor (MBR): a short review

“…In addition, metallic membranes have more durable tolerance especially to high temperature and oxidation in comparison with polymeric membrane material . Ceramic membranes is one of the most widely used material particularly for anaerobic MBR (AnMBR) system (Imasaka et al, 1989;Chang et al, 1994;Ghyoot et al, 1997), due to their effective resistance to corrosion, abrasion, increased concentration polarization control, and fouling through backwashing (Ersu et al, 2008). Ceramic membranes are needed to be supported with multiple materials and can be used for either hollow fiber or flat sheet configuration (Kumar et al, 2015).…”

Proposal for a screening test to evaluate the fate of organic micropollutants in activated sludge

“…toluene, benz(a)anthracene, phenol and benzene), whose properties are summarized in Table 1. Toluene and benzene were chosen as representative of volatile organic compounds (VOC), benz(a)anthracene was chosen for its low solubility in water and high adsorption on sludges (typical of recalcitrant compounds like dioxin), and phenol was chosen for its biodegradability [19,20].…”