膜生物反应器(MBR)技术及其工程应用探讨

膜生物反应器(MBR)废水处理技术开发始于20世纪90年代,近年来MBR技术的应用在世界上维持着每年高于10%的增长率。随着对水资源利用水平要求的不断提高,我国已经成为世界上MBR工程应用增长最快的国家。特别是2005年以来,处理能力5 000m3/d以上的新建大中型MBR项目均保持大于100%的年增长率。作者介绍了膜生物反应器(MBR)污水处理技术工程应用的主要类型及特点,总结了膜污染的机理、主要影响因素及当前工程上对膜污染的主要控制手段,给出了当前几种典型的生活污水及工业废水MBR工艺的工程应用的技术经济情况,显示出MBR工艺的应用前景。     

Dyeing and printing wastewater treatment using a membrane bioreactor with a gravity drain

A laboratory-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) with a gravity drain was tested for dyeing and printing wastewater treatment from a wool mill. The MBR was operated with continuous permeate by gravity and without chemical cleaning for 135 days. Results showed that excellent effluent quality could meet the reuse water standard in China. The average concentrations of COD, BOD₅, turbidity and color in the effluent were 36.9 mg l⁻¹, 3.7 mg l⁻¹, 0.2 NTU and 21 dilution times (DT), respectively. The average removal rates of COD, BOD₅, turbidity and color were 80.3%, 95.0%, 99.3% and 58.7%, respectively. The membrane flux increased with increasing of aeration intensity, and its increasing rate was related to pressure-heads. The higher the pressure-head, the greater the impact of aeration intensity on membrane flux. Statistical analysis also showed that both the pressure-head and aeration intensity significantly affected membrane flux. Due to its compact design, simple operation and easy maintenance, MBR with a gravitational filtration system hs low energy consumption and is cost-effective to build and operate. If the life expectancy of the membrane is set for 3–4 years and the membrane flux is set at 15 l/m²·h, such a MBR would be very competitive.     

A novel approach to an advanced tertiary wastewater treatment: Combination of a membrane bioreactor and an oyster-zeolite column

A combination of a microfiltration-membrane bioreactor (MBR) and oyster-zeolite (OZ) packed-bed adsorption column was studied for the first time to evaluate the advanced tertiary treatment of nitrogen and phosphorous. The membrane module was submerged in the bioreactor and aeration was operated intermittently for an optimal wastewater treatment performance. Artificial wastewater with COD_cr of 220 mg/L, total nitrogen (T-N) of 45 mg/L, and total phosphorous (T-P) of 6 mg/L was used in submerged MBR with MLSS of 4,000–5,000 mg/L. The experiments were performed during a 100-day period with periodic membrane washing. The results showed that COD_cr could be effectively removed in the MBR alone with over 96% removal efficiency. However, T-N and T-P removal efficiency was slightly lower than expected with only the MBR. The permeate from MBR was then passed through the OZ column for tertiary nutrient removal. The final effluent analysis confirmed that nutrients can be additionally removed resulting in over 90% and 53% removal efficiencies for T-N and T-P, respectively. The results of this study suggest that the waste oyster shell can be effectively reclaimed as an adsorbent in advanced tertiary wastewater treatment processes in combination with a MBR.     

Preparation of dialdehyde cellulose hydrazone derivatives andevaluating their efficiency for sewage wastewater treatment

The cellulose hydrazone derivative is a novel product prepared from dialdehyde cellulose with 2-hydrazino-3,5,6,7tetrahydrocyclopentanethieno[2,3-d]-pyrimidin-4(4H)-one under suitably selected conditions. It was found that the reaction of dialdehyde cellulose with the 2-hydrazino derivative decreased progressively in the series cellulose powder, viscose wood pulp and cotton linter. The principal objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of dialdehyde cellulose hydrazone derivatives on sewage wastewater settling, percentage of total suspended solids (TSS), carbon oxygen demand (COD), and iron and chromium removal. About 30-50% of chlorine was removed after treatment using dialdehyde cellulose hydrazone derivatives, thus indicating their good efficiency for halogen removal. Cellulose hydrazone derivatives were recommended as good coagulants and removed Fe and Cr by 73.9% and 66.7%, respectively. Jar tests revealed that the wastewater was best treated with the addition of chemical coagulants such as FeCl₃ or Al₂(SO₄)₃ combined with cellulose hydrazone derivatives at optimum doses. The optimum conditions produced better cleaning-up and improved removal of COD and TSS up to 77% and 97%, respectively.     

Performances of RO and NF processes for wastewater reuse: Tertiary treatment after a conventional activated sludge or a membrane bioreactor

Wastewater reclamation requires processes and technologies having the ability to reduce the presence of micropollutants which are not wholly treated in conventional WWTP. Due to the complexity of membrane-solute interactions and the diversity of secondary treatment effluent (STE) matrices, deeper investigations are required to identify the major foulant species and more specifically their behaviour at high concentration in real waters. This study investigates the rejection and fouling potential of nanofiltration (NF) and low-pressure reverse osmosis (RO) membranes with two STEs sampled from i) a conventional activated sludge process coupled with ultrafiltration (CAS-UF) and from ii) a membrane bioreactor MBR (AquaRM^®, SAUR (France)). Whatever the origin of the effluent, RO seems to be the best solution to prevent pollution of tertiary effluents (expected result) but also to obtain low fouling levels. The different composition and molecular weight distribution of MBR and CAS-UF effluents can explain the different fouling behaviours that were observed.     

High strength wastewater treatment in a jet loop membrane bioreactor: kinetics and performance evaluation

Treatment of wastewater containing high organic matter was investigated by means of a jet loop bioreactor combined with a membrane process. Volume of jet loop bioreactor and area of membrane filtration unit were 23 l and 155 cm² respectively. It was found that jet loop reactor had high mass transfer coefficient (K_La) varying from 58.8 to 486 h^-1 depending on the water flow rate (i.e. power input) and air flow rate. Oxygen transfer efficiency and oxygenation capacity of the reactor varied from 12 to 22.5% and from 0.2 to 1.8 , respectively. The efficiency of jet loop membrane bioreactor was found to be approximately 97% for a volumetric organic load of 2- over a period of 10 weeks. The reactor was not disturbed from the organic loads up to , but the treatment efficiency decreased to about 60% at higher organic loads. This decrease was due to insufficient oxygen transfer rate. The relationship between the effluent substrate concentration and the specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) values was determined. Applied food/microorganism (F/M) ratio was varied between 2.5 and . Critical sludge age of the system () was evaluated to be 7.2 h. Sludge with unsatisfactory settling characteristics formed at high F/M values under turbulent conditions. Therefore, membrane process was used for solid-liquid separation and effluent solid concentration was approximately zero. Specific cake resistances (α) changed with F/M ratio. It was found that permeate fluxes were significantly effected with F/M ratio much more than mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS). Average flux was for pore sized cellulose acetate membrane. It was concluded that the jet loop membrane bioreactor has distinctive advantages such as the ability to treat high strength wastewater, low area requirements and easy operation.     

Control of residual organic matter to reduce bacterial regrowth potential for wastewater reuse

Several problems have been reported about accumulated microorganisms in reclaimed water distribution systems. This paper presents the results of residual organic matter (OM) removal and apparent bacterial regrowth potential of treated wastewater obtained from laboratory-scale experiments using advanced biological treatments: two immobilization processes in series and a membrane bioreactor (MBR) process. Furthermore, a nanofiltration (NF) membrane process was applied to effluents of both advanced biological treatments. The immobilization process removed large molecular weight (MW) fractions >5,000 since immobilized microorganisms had sufficiently acclimated. The NF membrane was more effective in rejecting large MW fractions in the effluents of the immobilization and the MBR treatments. But it was difficult to reject small MW fractions <1,000 by NF. Neutral hydrophilic fraction of DOC was reduced by both advanced biological processes, and it can be thought that the microorganisms in the advanced processes could decompose and grow on some part of the neutral hydrophilic fraction. Quantity of attached microorganisms in the second immobilization reactor was significantly reduced compared to that in the first immobilization reactor. This suggests that apparent bacterial regrowth potential is controlled by the accumulation of effective microorganisms in the first reactor.     

Sludge filterability and dewaterability in a membrane bioreactor for municipal wastewater treatment

The physical properties of excess sludge wasted from a large pilot scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) have been routinely monitored over almost two years. A statistical analysis highlighted the significant impact of temperature on the capillary suction time and sludge filterability, due to the increase of organic matter in the liquid phase. Suspended solids have resulted to be the most important component affecting sludge filterability, although the impact of colloids and solutes increased when temperature decrease, thus confirming the generally worse characteristics of sludge in such conditions. Conditioning and dewatering test have been performed on a pilot scale fixed volume recessed plate filter press. Six different chemicals were used for sludge pre-conditioning and, for each additive, three dosages were tested in the range 5-25 g_polymer kgMLSS^− 1. After about sixty filtration trials at three different pressure values (7, 11 and 15 bar), the kind of polymer seem to be the most important factor influencing the final cake-dryness, with less evident impact for dosage and operational pressure. Finally, when performed on the aerobically digested excess sludge wasted from a conventional activated sludge plant, the filtration tests show no differences with the MBR sludge.     

Reuse of reverse osmosis membranes in advanced wastewater treatment

In areas where tap water has a high salt content, wastewater is not appropriate for reuse in agriculture, particularly for sensitive crops. One alternative is reduction, via desalination, of the brackish character to the secondary effluent. A filtration stage is also required before desalination. On the other hand, used reverse osmosis membranes can be recycled and used as filters in the advanced treatment stage in order to reduce suspended matter contained in the secondary effluent—one advantage being the environmental recovery of solid waste. Used membranes can be treated with strong chemical oxidants to peel off the active separation layer in order to transform them into microfiltration or ultrafiltration elements. Preliminary tests have been carried out with 8″ elements, aimed at comparing membrane performance before and after the peeling process. An index denoted as peeling effectiveness (high flux, high salt passage) is used for comparison. It was soon observed that potassium permanganate was more effective than others, together with sodium hydroxide. Doses around 1000 mg/L KMnO₄ provided the best results. It was also concluded that membrane cleaning, done with sodium bisulphite prior to peeling, was better when recirculating the cleaning solution around the membrane rather than soaking it. Next steps in the research will test the actual filtration capability of the peeled membranes in actual wastewater.     

New configuration of a membrane bioreactor for effective control of membrane fouling and nutrients removal in wastewater treatment

Excess aeration to membrane surface is common for controlling membrane fouling in a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) system, but significant energy is consumed for excess air production. Therefore, an alternative strategy for membrane fouling control is currently needed. A new configuration of MBR was proposed in this study to control membrane fouling effectively. To reduce biosolids concentration near the membrane surface, the position of the membrane module in MBR was elevated from the bottom to the top in the reactor. This could divide the reactor to two different zones: upper and lower zone. Air was not supplied at the lower zone whereas aeration was given to the upper zone where the membrane filtration was carried out. Biosolids concentration was reduced in the upper zone because the mixed liquor was settled down to the lower zone. Membrane fouling could be lessened in the upper zone due to the reduced biosolids concentration. Therefore, to verify if this new configuration of MBR could mitigate membrane fouling, the effect of changing vertical position of the membrane module in MBR on membrane fouling was investigated. Prior to verification the effect of elevation of membrane module on membrane fouling, influence of MLSS concentration on membrane fouling was investigated first. Transmembrane pressure (TMP) increase became steep as MLSS concentration increased. And the immersed membrane module was elevated from the bottom to the top of the MBR. When the upper membrane was located in the bioreactor, less membrane fouling was observed. This could demonstrate a possibility of new MBR design to control membrane fouling. In addition, reduced dissolved oxygen level in the returned sludge to anoxic tank could increase denitrification efficiency if this configuration is directly applied to biological nutrient removal processes.     

Membrane bioreactor technology for wastewater treatment and reuse

Treatment technology for water recycling encompasses a vast number of options. Membrane processes are regarded as key elements of advanced wastewater reclamation and reuse schemes and are included in a number of prominent schemes world-wide, e.g. for artificial groundwater recharge, indirect potable reuse as well as for industrial process water production. Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are a promising process combination of activated sludge treatment and membrane filtration for biomass retention. This paper will provide an overview of the status of membrane bioreactor applications in municipal wastewater reclamation and reuse in Europe and will depict their potential role in promoting more sustainable water use patterns. Particular attention will be paid to the impact of MBR technology on emerging pollutants. A case study will be presented on a full-scale MBR plant for municipal wastewater which is operated by Aquafin in Belgium.     

Tertiary treatment of a secondary effluent by the coupling of coagulation-adsorption-ultrafiltration for reuse

We considered the treatment of secondary effluent by coagulation-adsorption coupled with ultrafiltration. Tests were performed on the secondary effluent of the wastewater treatment plant at Staoueli (Algeria) where the average chemical oxygen demand (COD) was 46 (mg O₂/L) and turbidity, 16 NTU. The ultrafiltration tests were made with mineral tubular CARBOSEP membranes — M5 (10 kg/ mol), M2 (15 kg/mol) — in the dynamic mode with a transmembrane pressure ΔP = 1 bar and cross flow velocity = 3 m/s. The reagents were calcium chloride (as coagulant agent) and powder activated carbon. Coagulation improved the ultrafiltration performances significantly. In the first step, the optimal conditions for coagulation were determined considering the best elimination of turbidity as well as organic matter. In the second step, the efficiency of different processes (coagulation, adsorption, ultrafiltration) was compared when used alone or in combination. The coagulation test showed a COD elimination equal to 12 mg/L at pH = 6.5 for a concentration of CaCl₂ = 50 mg/L and a turbidity equal to 3 NTU.     

无磷条件下膜生物反应器处理化工废水

在进水不含磷条件下,对膜生物反应器(MBR)系统的运行情况进行了研究。结果表明:微生物充分利用体内储存的聚磷酸盐及死亡细胞和碎片中的磷进行生长,因此混合液悬浮固体(MLSS)仍能增加,最后稳定在8.5 g/L;化学需氧量(COD)处理效果一直较好;氨氮和总氮去除率可达90％及70％;系统经历了丝状菌膨胀和非丝状菌膨胀两个阶段。在缺磷的情况下,MBR系统的处理结果并未受到很大影响。     

Role of coagulation in membrane filtration of wastewater for reuse

This study explains the role of coagulation in membrane filtration of wastewater for reuse. For this purpose, a coagulation-ultrafiltration (UF) membrane system was used to treat secondary effluent from a nearby wastewater treatment plant using a rotating biological contactor. The study proceeded with the hypothesis that coagulation could affect membrane filtration through two phenomena: change in particle characteristics and contaminant loading reduction. If fouling reduction were observed at a low alum dosage, coagulation would affect membrane performance by changing particle characteristics because contaminant reduction could not be possible at low dosage. If fouling reduction were observed only at a high alum dosage, the role of coagulation would be contaminant loading reduction. Results showed that both phenomena were important. Coagulation improved the membrane performance by changing particle characteristics at a low alum dosage. The improvement was achieved through both a change in particle characteristics and contaminant loading reduction at a high alum dosage. Particle size among various characteristics was found the most important for membrane fouling. Coagulation increased particle size, which led to a reduction of fouling. The beneficial effect from coagulation was observed at both fouling steps of pore blocking/adsorption and cake formation. Coagulation pretreatment was also beneficial for the improvement of the permeate quality in terms of organic matter.     

Membrane choice for wastewater treatment using external cross flow tubular membrane filtration

Systematic investigations of activated sludge separation were conducted using membrane filtration. To accomplish this, different organic tubular membranes with different separation limits and diameters were examined. Furthermore, from the results obtained in the initial tests, an appropriate membrane was chosen for a long-term test. The investigations determined that for biomass separation by the tubular membranes in the tested system, neither the membrane material nor the separation limit within a range of 1 μm to 20,000 Da had a significant influence on the filtration characteristics. It was recognized that the application of a tubular membrane with a diameter of less than 8 mm is problematic, because high flow velocities were needed to prevent blockage of the membrane. When the flow velocity was in the range of 1 to 4 m/s, a linear relation between flux and velocity was found. This showed the potential for controlling the membrane filtration process and externally influencing the permeate rate. An average retention of TOC was about 75%. The retention of TOC was not significantly influenced by the nominal pore sizes of the membranes (except for the membrane WFNX 0505) which were tested here. The ultrafiltration membrane WFS 0120 (Stork) was prominent in the long-term test due to its very high flux, germfree permeate with a MWCO (molecular weight cut-off) of 100,000 Da, and was not blocked with a diameter of 14.4 mm, also at lower flow velocities. The results of the long-term test supported the hypothesis that a meaningful application of such a module concept is possible in a filtration plant for the preparation of samples or for the rejection of the biomass in small sewage treatment plants.     

A new membrane bioreactor generation for wastewater treatment application: Strategy of membrane aeration management by sequencing aeration cycles

Polymem is developing in the past few years a new membrane bioreactor concept using external module membranes. The membranes are hollow fibers. They are housed in carters and work in outside/in filtration mode. Permanent air scouring is provided at the bottom of the module to control the accumulation of sludge on the membrane surface. In other words, the membrane carters look like bubble columns with hollow fiber membranes inside.The main advantages of this concept are the easy maintenance of the external modules; the total independence of the bioreactor from the membrane filtration part, which facilitates plant retrofitting and upgrading; the high membrane compacity (up to 500 m²/m3), and better efficiency of membrane air scouring thanks to a dedicated coarse bubbles aeration system inside the module vessel.The first part of this paper deals with the quantification of the specific aeration demand of the system. Aeration demand was compared to conventional MBR systems. The study shows that with this optimised geometry of module concept, the aeration flow rate is lowered compared with conventional processes.In the second part of this paper, an optimisation of the aeration demand was carried out by sequencing the cycle of aeration by incorporating a syncope in the aeration. Ratios of the time-on and time-off from 1/2 to 1/5 were tested for various instantaneous aeration flow rates. Impacts on both short term fouling and long term fouling were evaluated and quantified in terms of permeability decrease. The advantages of the location of the membrane in an external cylindrical carter have been demonstrated in terms of operating cost savings with a reduction of specific aeration demand for membranes scouring at 100 to 250 Nl/h m², which is half the classical consumption of the submerged MBR today.     

缺氧/好氧膜-生物反应器处理高浓度含碳和氮工业废水

采用缺氧 /好氧膜 生物反应器 (MBR)处理高浓度含碳和氮工业废水 ,在缺氧反应器的水力停留时间 (HRT)为 5h ,好氧MBR的HRT分别为 1 5、1 0、6h时 ,考察了系统的同时除碳脱氮性能。结果表明 ,好氧MBR的HRT在试验范围内对系统的处理效果没有明显影响 ,即使MBR的HRT降低到 6h,系统对化学需氧量 (COD)、氨氮和总氮的去除率仍可达到 94%、90 %和 73 %以上 ,出水水质达到国家一级排放标准 ;系统中的生物反应对有机物和氮的去除起主要作用 ,但膜对混合液上清液COD有一定去除 ,主要对相对分子质量大于 1 0万的有机物有截留 ;由于膜的高效截留作用 ,MBR中可保持高浓度的污泥量和高硝化活性 ,确保了硝化反应的高效进行     

Roles of sponge sizes and membrane types in a single stage sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor for improving nutrient removal from wastewater for reuse

Sponge not only can reduce membrane fouling by means of mechanical cleaning and maintain a balance of suspended-attached microorganisms in submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR), but also can enhance dissolved organic matter and nutrient removal. This study investigated the performance of three different sizes of sponge (S_28-30/45R, S_28-30/60R and S_28-30/90R) associated with continuous aerated SMBR. A laboratory-scale single stage sponge-SMBR (SSMBR) showed high performance for removing dissolved organic matter (>96%) and PO₄-P (>98.8), while coarse sponges such as S_28-30/45R, S_28-30/60R could achieve more than 99% removal of NH₄-N. When three-size sponges (S_28-30/45R, S_28-30/60R and S_28-30/90R) were mixed at a ratio of 1:1:1 and in conjunction with two kinds of membranes (0.1 µm hollow fiber and 2 µm nonwoven), the SSMBR system has proved its generic merits of superior treated effluent quality and less membrane fouling. The NH₄-N and PO₄-P removal were found excellent, which were more than 99.8% and over 99% respectively. Molecular weight distribution also indicated that major fractions of organic matter could be successfully removed by SSMBR.     

Biological COD reduction and inorganic suspended solids accumulation in a pilot-scale membrane bioreactor for traditional Chinese medicine wastewater treatment

A pilot-scale test was conducted in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) for 452 days to treat high-strength traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) wastewater from two-phase anaerobic digest effluent. This study focuses on the chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction and inorganic suspended solid (ISS) accumulation. The wastewater was high in COD, varying daily between 259 and 12,776 mg L⁻¹. Almost all the COD was removed by the MBR system, leaving a COD of <50 mg L⁻¹ in the MBR effluent. This indicated a great potential of the MBR in TCM wastewater reuse. ISS produced in the bioreactor by metabolism of microorganism increased from 265 to 4912 g h⁻¹, which showed that there were large numbers of ISS accumulation in the bioreactor. Two models, built on the material balances of COD and ISS, were developed for the simulation of MBR system performance in the biodegradation of TCM wastewater. Consequently, the kinetic constants including the maximum substrate specific biodegradation rate (V_max), the half-saturation coefficient (K_s) and the inorganic suspended solids growth rate (k) were calculated as V_max, 3.64, 3.82, 4.39 d⁻¹, K_s, 56.4, 225, 394 mg L⁻¹ and k, 265, 888, 4912 mg L⁻¹ d⁻¹ using the operational data at different hydraulic retention times (HRTs). The models well fitted the pilot-scale experimental data, and were able to simulate the COD reduction and ISS accumulation.