Review on the state of science on membrane bioreactors for municipal wastewater treatment.

Over the past two decades the field of application for membrane bioreactors has broadened towards the municipal wastewater treatment sector. The Global Water Research Coalition (GWRC) determined MBR technology to be of priority for collaborative research and decided to conduct a project with the aim to determine the current state of the science in the field of MBR for municipal wastewater treatment and to develop a phased research strategy represented by priority research projects, like a State of the Science report with regard to MBR technology. This paper describes the state of the science with regard to MBR technology for municipal wastewater treatment by 2007, derived by literature review on recent publications, database analysis and international questionnaires.The research efforts from the past seven years can be characterised by the following prioritised list: (1) membrane fouling, (2) effluent quality, (3) energy consumption (aeration) and (4) cost considerations. The research needs for the near future as identified with the questionnaire are comparable to the main topics of research as identified in the literature review: membrane fouling is still the main problem requiring thorough attention from scientists; effluent quality is a main driver for the application of the technology. There remain some important questions however, with regard to the removal of EDC and micro pollutants. Much of the research activities on MBR are repeated more than once by research groups world-wide. This is only partially caused by a lack of knowledge exchange between researchers. However, lacking information exchange between Europe and the USA on MBR research is identified as a potential bottleneck. Another point of attention is the fast that research results can not easily be translated to other (more practical) situations, since much of the research is carried out at pilot scale.     

Correlation between membrane fouling and soluble/colloidal organic substances in membrane bioreactors for municipal wastewater treatment.

Two similar membrane bioreactors of 2 m3 each were operated in parallel over two years under the same operational conditions, fed with the same municipal wastewater. The only process and operational difference between both pilot plants was the position of the denitrification zone (pre-denitrification in pilot 1 and post-denitrification in pilot 2). Despite parallel operation, the two MBRs exhibited different fouling rates and decreases in permeability. These differences could not be accounted for by MLSS concentrations, loading rates, or filtration flux. In a one-year investigation, soluble and colloidal organic material in the activated sludge of both MBR was regularly analysed by spectrophotometric and Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) methods. The larger organic molecules present in the sludge water phase (i.e. polysaccharides, proteins and organic colloids) originating from microbial activity (extracellular polymeric substances) were found to impact on the fouling and to explain the difference in membrane performance between the two MBR units. In both pilot plants, a linear relationship could be clearly demonstrated between the fouling rate of the membrane and the concentration of polysaccharides in the sludge water phase during a 5 month operational period at an SRT of 8 days.     

Application of sequencing batch membrane bioreactors (SB-MBR) for the treatment of municipal wastewater

Sequencing batch membrane bioreactors can be a good option in up-grading small municipal plant and for industrial applications, maintaining some of the advantages of both original technologies (effluent quality improvement, flexibility and simplicity of realization, operation and control). In this study, the effects of volumetric exchange ratio (VER) and aeration/filtration strategy have been evaluated. Moreover, with the adoption of cycles shorter than 8 h, the opportunity of further simplification of the membrane operation has been tested by choosing a continuous filtration mode instead of the usual short cycle of permeation/relaxation. Two lab-scales MBR equipped with Zenon hollow fiber modules were fed on real primary effluent. For all tests, hydraulic retention time of 10 h and sludge retention time of 60 days have been adopted. Different cycles have been investigated, lasting between 1 and 8 h and all comprising an anoxic phase to allow for denitrification. Operation at low VER resulted in better effluent quality with no limitations to the denitrification phase. For VER >33% a pre-aeration step was required before effluent withdrawal for optimal ammonium removal. Moreover, VER appeared to have limited negative effect on sludge concentration and yield, while the membrane cleaning frequency slightly increased for increasing VER.     

Bio-layer management in anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment.

Membrane separation technology represents an alternative way to achieve biomass retention in anaerobic bioreactors for wastewater treatment. Due to high biomass concentrations of anaerobic reactors, cake formation is likely to represent a major cause of flux decline. In the presented research, experiments are performed on the effect of biomass concentration and level of gas sparging on the hydraulic capacity of a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor. Both parameters significantly affected the hydraulic capacity, with biomass exerting the most pronounced effect. After 50 days of continuous operation the critical flux remained virtually unchanged, despite an increase in membrane resistance, suggesting that biomass characteristics and hydraulic conditions determine the bio-layer formation rather than the membrane's fouling level. The concept of bio-layer management is introduced to describe the programmed combination of actions performed in order to control the formation of biomass layer over membranes.     

Effect of membrane characteristics on the performance of membrane bioreactors for oily wastewater treatment

Influence of membrane material and pore size on the performance of a submerged membrane bioreactor (sMBR) for oily wastewater treatment was investigated. The sMBR had a working volume of about 19 L with flat sheet modules at the same hydrodynamic conditions. Five types of micro- and ultra-polymeric membranes containing cellulose acetate (CA), cellulose nitrate (CN), polyamide (PA), polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and polyethersulfone (PES) were used and their filtration performance in terms of permeability, permeate quality and fouling intensity were evaluated. Characterization of the membranes was done by performing some analysis such as pore size distribution; contact angle and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) microphotograph on all membranes. The quality of permeates from each membrane was identified by measuring chemical oxygen demand (COD). The results showed more irreversible fouling intensity for membranes with larger pore size which can be due to more permeation of bioparticles and colloids inside the pores. Membrane characteristics have a major role in the preliminary time of the filtration before cake layer formation so that the PA with the highest hydrophilicity had the lowest permeability decline by fouling in this period. Also, the PVDF and PES membranes had better performance according to better permeate quality in the preliminary time of the filtration related to smaller pore size and also their better fouling resistance and chemical stability properties. However, all membranes resulted in the same permeability and permeate quality after cake layer formation. An overall efficiency of about 95% in COD removal was obtained for oily wastewater treatment by the membranes used in this study.     

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor for treatment of synthetic municipal wastewater at ambient temperature.

Non-woven fabric filter and poly-tetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composite membrane were investigated to determine their applicability to treat low strength wastewater in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AMBR). Sludge cake resistance of the membrane was quantified using pure water flux of anaerobic sludge cake accumulated on the glass fiber filter of similar pore size. It is hypothesized that the formation of thin cake layer on the porous medium, e.g. non-woven and PTFE acts as a dynamic membrane. Thus, the capture of thin sludge cake inside the non-woven fabric matrix and accumulation on the PTFE membrane surface forms a membrane system equivalent to a commercial membrane system. The permeate quality was found to improve as the cake became more dense with filtration time. The PTFE composite membrane coated with thin PTFE film on the non-woven fabric filter enhanced the filtration performance by improving flux and minimizing the propensity of bio-fouling. The membrane flux was restored by back-flushing with permeate. The AMBR coupled with PTFE laminated membrane was operated continuously during the experiment at a cross flow velocity (CFV) of 0.1-0.2 m/sec and a transmembrane pressure (TMP) of 0.5-3 psi. Although about a month of acclimation was required to reach steady state, the effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD), volatile fatty acids (VFAs) as acetic acid, and suspended solids (SS) concentrations were below 30, 20 and 10 mg/L, respectively, during 90 days of operation with intermittent back washing. The lower operation TMP and CFV were subjected to less shear stress on the microbial community during continuous AMBR operation. In addition, thin sludge film accumulated on the membrane surface also acted as a biofilm bioreactor to remove additional COD in this study.     

Performance of membrane bioreactors used for the treatment of wastewater from the chemical and textile industries.

Within the scope of the study, nine waste waters from the chemical and textile industries were treated in bench-scale (laboratory scale) and small-scale (pilot scale) membrane bioreactors. Depending on wastewater characteristics, the resulting performance varied significantly. It was observed that MBR effectiveness was determined primarily by the degree of biodegradability of the wastewater. In the course of several months of operation, no significant changes associated with the complete retention of the biomass by the membranes were observed. In some cases, it was possible to improve effluent quality by using smaller molecular separation sizes. The flux performance of the membrane modules was dependent on wastewater composition. Occasionally, non-degradable macromolecular substances concentrated in the bioreactor, resulting in strongly reduced filterability and flow performance of the membrane modules, consequently also reducing the economic viability of the process. The results demonstrate that wastewater-specific pilot tests are absolutely necessary, in particular if the technology is to be used for new applications.     

Pilot study on municipal wastewater treatment by a modified submerged membrane bioreactor.

A pilot-scale modified submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) with the capacity of 18.1 m3d(-1) was developed on the basis of the principle of air-lift internal-loop reactor. Economical aeration intensity of the SMBR was determined as 96 m3m(-2)h(-1) according to hydrodynamic investigation. Corresponding economical air-flow rate was selected as the working air-flow rate in the long-term run. Under economical aeration intensity, the critical flux zone of the modified SMBR was as high as 30-35 Lm(-2)h(-1) when MLSS was less than 13 gL(-1). Therefore, a sub-critical flux of 30 Lm(-2)h(-1) was selected as the working membrane flux in the long-term run. Membrane fouling was effectively controlled by sub-critical flux operation and periodic on-line chemical cleaning in the long-term run. When the average influent CODCr, NH3-N and turbidity were 310 and 44.3 mgL(-1) and 161 NTU, respectively, the average permeate were 38.5 and 19.5 mgL(-1) and 0.96 NTU under hydraulic retention time (HRT) was only 2.8 h. Corresponding removal was 86, 58.2 and 99.4%. DO deficiency caused by high MLSS was demonstrated as the main reason for low NH3-N removal.     

Nutrients removal in MBRs for municipal wastewater treatment.

Owing to increasingly stringent effluent quality requirements, intensifications of the conventional activated sludge process (ASP) are required. Due to high biomass concentrations employed, higher metabolic rates and better nutrient removal are possible in membrane bioreactors (MBRs). Decoupling of hydraulic and solids residence times offers additional possibilities for process design and optimisation. Recently, unconventional concepts like post-denitrification and enhanced biological phosphorus removal in MBRs have emerged. The objective of this paper is to present current knowledge on nutrients removal in MBRs and trends in process optimisation in comparison with conventional ASP.     

Tracking particle size distributions in a moving bed biofilm membrane reactor for treatment of municipal wastewater.

A study has been conducted to investigate the effect of loading rates on membrane fouling in a moving bed biofilm membrane reactor process for municipal wastewater treatment, especially analysing the fate of submicron colloidal particles and their influence on membrane fouling. Two operating conditions defined as low and high organic loading rates were tested where the development and fate of the particulate material was characterised analysing the particle size distributions throughout the process. Analysis of the membrane performance showed higher fouling rates for the high-rate conditions. The fraction of colloidal submicron particles was higher in the membrane reactor indicating that fouling by these particles was a dominant contribution to membrane fouling.     

可持续发展的新型、高效城市污水处理技术探讨

对国内外城市污水处理工艺的发展进行了回顾,提出我国目前所采用的以氧化沟技术和SBR反应器为主体的城市污水处理技术是西方发达国家在一定历史时期和技术发展水平下的产物,与西方国家的自然条件和经济发展水平是相适应的。从可持续发展方面进行考察认为这些技术(特别是延时曝气)是不适合我国国情的高物质消耗和高能耗的污水处理技术。同时,提出我国城市污水可持续发展的处理技术的关键是要在新工艺开发方面进行不断的探索,同时解决污泥处理技术方面的问题。并就工艺创新、技术创新和体制创新对城市污水处理厂降低投资和运行管理费用的作用进行了分析。对沉淀和分离性能改进,生物的量和质的提高以及充氧性能的改善是高效反应器发展的要点。     

Alternate anoxic/aerobic operation for nitrogen removal in a membrane bioreactor for municipal wastewater treatment

A large pilot-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) with a conventional denitrification/nitrification scheme for municipal wastewater treatment has been run for one year under two different aeration strategies in the oxidation/nitrification compartment. During the first five months air supply was provided according to the dissolved-oxygen set-point and the system run as a conventional predenitrification MBR; then, an intermittent aeration strategy based on effluent ammonia nitrogen was adopted in the aerobic compartment in order to assess the impact on process performances in terms of N and P removal, energy consumption and sludge reduction. The experimental inferences show a significant improvement of the effluent quality as COD and total nitrogen, both due to a better utilization of the denitrification potential which is a function of the available electron donor (biodegradable COD) and electron acceptor (nitric nitrogen); particularly, nitrogen removal increased from 67% to 75%. At the same time, a more effective biological phosphorus removal was observed as a consequence of better selection of denitrifying phosphorus accumulating organisms (dPAO). The longer duration of anoxic phases also reflected in a lower excess sludge production (12% decrease) compared with the standard pre-denitrification operation and in a decrease of energy consumption for oxygen supply (about 50%).     

DE型氧化沟在城市污水处理中的应用

以济南水质净化二厂为例分析DE型氧化沟处理城市污水的效果,对该厂2004年水质指标CODCr、BOD5、SS、TP、NH3-N的进出水浓度变化进行了分析,同时分析了1#氧化沟和3#氧化沟的MLSS、MLVSS、SV的月平均变化趋势。结果表明用DE型氧化沟处理城市污水具有较好的效果,能够达到《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》(GB18918—2002)的二级标准。     

Design and operation of an eco-system for municipal wastewater treatment and utilization.

An eco-system consisting of integrated ponds and constructed wetland systems is employed in Dongying City, Shandong Province for the treatment and utilization of municipal wastewater with design capacity of 100,000 m(3)/d. The total capital cost of this system is 680 Yuan (RMB) or US dollars 82/m(3)/d, or about half that of the conventional system based on activated sludge process, and the O/M cost is 0.1 Yuan (RMB) or US dollars 0.012/m(3), only one fifth that of conventional treatment systems. The performance of the wastewater treatment and utilization eco-system is quite good with a final effluent COD, BOD, SS, NH3-N and TP of 45-65 mg/l, 7-32 mg/l, 12-35 mg/l, 2-13 mg/l and 0.2-1.8mg/l respectively and the annual average removals of COD, BOD, SS, NH3-N and TP are 69.1%, 78.3%, 76.4%, 62.1% and 52.9%o respectively, which is much better than that of conventional pond system or constructed wetland used separately and illustrates that the artificial and integrated eco-system is more effective and efficient than the simple natural eco-system.     

Selection of an ultraviolet disinfection system for a municipal wastewater treatment plant.

As part of an expansion to an average flow of 45.9 million gallons per day (174 mld), the Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority wastewater treatment plant in the State of Michigan, USA, elected to install ultraviolet disinfection as a replacement for the existing chlorination process. This paper presents a unique methodology used in selecting the best system based on not only the life cycle costs, and O & M considerations but also the participation of the stakeholders. The Team members consisted of representatives of all departments at the Authority, and these Team members made the decision. The Team evaluated all criteria in the office, which was followed by verification at selected sites with similar types of equipment. The selected equipment then was pilot tested for validation of the dose-kill relationship under normal operation and also under reduced irradiation conditions. A low-pressure, high intensity system was selected, based on life-cycle cost, reliability, safety, and ease of operation. This paper describes the unique methodologies used in making that decision. The full-scale system is scheduled for start-up in Spring 2003.     

Biolak工艺处理城市污水的设计及运行

山东诸城市污水处理厂采用Biolak工艺,一期设计处理能力6.6万m3/d。其进水包含40%生活污水和60%工业废水,设计进水CODCr450mg/L,BOD5200mg/L,SS230mg/L,NH3-N40mg/L,TP5mg/L,设计出水达到《污水综合排放标准》(GB8976-1996)一级标准。介绍了工艺流程,主要设计参数以及Biolak工艺的特点。运行结果表明,该工艺占地小,处理效率高,出水水质达到设计要求。     

改进型DAT-IAT工艺处理城市污水污泥龄的确定

通过对DAT-IAT工艺存在的问题,提出了改进DAT-IAT工艺的设想,通过试验证明,污泥龄为13d时,改进后的工艺可以保持较高的处理效率.     

城镇污水处理领域的碳减排

温室气体增加导致的气候变化正在对人类社会产生日益明显的影响,减少温室气体排放、控制气候变化已经成为国际社会的共识,绝大部分行业都在进行碳排放评价研究及碳减排对策的制定.城镇污水处理虽然是人类社会活动中一个很小的行业,但却是一个重要的碳排放源,发达国家已经越来越重视城镇污水处理行业的碳减排.碳排放是关于温室气体排放的一个总称或简称.能在大气中吸收红外线产生温室效应的气体有30多种,京都议定书确定需对其中的二氧化碳(CO2)、甲烷(CH4)、一氧化二氮(N2O)、氢氟碳化物(HFCs)、全氟碳化物(PFCs)及六氟化硫(SF6)六种气体进行消减,以有效控制气候变化.     

Evaluation of denitrification potential of rotating biological contactors for treatment of municipal wastewater.

In this study the effect of retention time and rotation speed in the denitrification process in two full-scale rotating biological contactors (RBC) which were operated parallel and fed with municipal wastewater is evaluated. Each rotating biological contactor was covered to prevent oxygen input. The discs were 40% submerged. On the axle of one of the rotating biological contactors lamellas were placed (RBC1). During the experiments the nitrate removal performance of the rotating biological contactor with lamellas was observed to be less than the other (RBC2) since the lamellas caused oxygen diffusion through their movement. The highest nitrate removal observed was 2.06 g/m2.d achieved by a contact time of 28.84 minutes and a recycle flow of 1 l/s. The rotation speed during this set had the constant value of 0.8 min(-1). Nitrate removal efficiency on RBC1 was decreasing with increasing rotation speed. On the rotating biological contactor without lamellas no effect on denitrification could be determined within a speed range from 0.67 to 2.1 min-1. If operated in proper conditions denitrification on RBC is a very suitable alternative for nitrogen removal that can easily fulfil the nutrient limitations in coastal areas due to the rotating biological contactors economical benefits and uncomplicated handling.     

Biosensor-based control of nitrification inhibitor in municipal wastewater treatment plants.

The effect of potassium cyanide (KCN) on nitrification processes in municipal wastewater treatment plants was studied by batch nitrification tests, which indicated that nitrification processes tend to be inhibited at a lower KCN concentration than the present discharge standard to sewerage. The experiment of the biosensor using nitrifying bacteria was also conducted for continuous monitoring of nitrification inhibitor in influent wastewater, and demonstrated that the biosensor can detect KCN at as low as EC10 of the abovementioned batch nitrification test. Moreover, to determine the effectiveness of application of the biosensor to avoid the impact of KCN due to an accidental spillage in a sewerage system, KCN was intentionally injected into the experimental models of activated sludge process equipped both with and without the biosensor. The model with the biosensor that could detect KCN could divert the wastewater including KCN to a refuge tank, which resulted in the avoidance of upset of the activated sludge process. On the other hand, the model without the biosensor was upset in the nitrification process due to KCN. Such differences demonstrate the effectiveness of the biosensor applied to countermeasures of an accidental spillage of toxic chemicals to avoid upset of nitrification in municipal wastewater treatment plants.