Biomass adaptation to complex substrate degradation in membrane bioreactors: appropriated operating conditions.

The aim of this work is to analyse the biological performances of two immersed membranes bioreactors focusing on the biomass adaptation to complex substrate degradation and the performance in term of permeate quality. Two influents were selected: a synthetic complex influent (acetate/Viandox, MBR1) and a real seafood processing wastewater (surimi product, MBR2). The MBR systems were operated for long periods without any sludge extraction except for sampling. Organic matter removal, sludge production and quality of the treated wastewater were analysed and studied. COD removal efficiencies after a period of biomass adaptation were higher than 97% and 95% for the synthetic and real wastewater respectively. In both cases, the COD of the treated wastewater was lower than 50 mg.L(-1). In spite of salt concentration in the real wastewater a biomass adaptation process occurs. In the overall operational period, a 0.058 gCOD P.gCOD T(-1) and a 0.12 gCOD P.gCOD T(-1) observed sludge yields were obtained for the MBR1 and MBR2 respectively. These values are approximately 5 to 10 times lower than those measured in conventional activated sludge process. These results showed that the presence of particular and some of non-easily degradable compounds in the influent of MBR2 didn't limit the performance of MBR in term of COD removal achieved. The results have also confirmed the excellent permeate quality for water reuse from MBRs systems.     

Influence of operating conditions on ceramic ultrafiltration membrane performance when treating textile effluents

This work studies the performance of three commercial ceramic ultrafiltration membranes (ZrO(2)-TiO(2)) treating raw effluent from a textile industry. The effect of crossflow velocity at 3, 4 and 5 m s(-1) as well as membrane characteristics, such as molecular weight cut-off (30, 50 and 150 kDa), on process performance were studied. Experiments were carried out in concentration mode in order to observe the effect of volume reduction factor simultaneously. Results showed a combined influence of both crossflow velocity and molecular weight cut-off on flux performance. TOC and COD removals up to 70% and 84% respectively were reached. On the other hand, almost complete color (>97%) and turbidity (>99%) removals were achieved for all the membranes and operating conditions.     

Wastewater treatment with anaerobic membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis.

Domestic wastewater from a new city district in Stockholm has been treated by an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AMBR) followed by reverse osmosis (RO). The main objectives were to study the gas production, the reduction of organic matter and nutrient recovery. The AMBR was operated at 22 degrees C (equal to the average temperature in the influent) and a hydraulic retention time of 0.6 d. The results show that the reduction of organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus over the AMBR was approximately 92, 9 and 9%, respectively. A stable gas production was registered throughout the evaluation period. The overall removal efficiency, i.e. including the RO, was >99% for TOC, >91% for Kj-N and about 99% for P. Adding a reverse osmosis (RO) unit to the AMBR makes it possible to produce a concentrated, nutrient rich product well suited for agricultural use. The quality of the concentrate is, in terms of nutrient concentration and heavy metal content, similar to source separated human urine, i.e. nitrogen content about 3 g N/L and <2 mg Cd/kg P. However, addition of acid is required to prevent precipitation/fouling of the RO. The total electricity use for operation for the system, including the RO-unit, is estimated to be 3-6 kWh/m3.     

Effect of solution chemistry and operating conditions on the nanofiltration of acid dyes by a nanocomposite membrane

A composite nanofiltration membrane was developed by a poly(acrylic acid) in situ ultraviolet (UV) graft polymerization process using an ultrafiltration polysulfone membrane as a porous support, by a phase inversion method. SEM images showed that the PSf membranes had numerous finger-like pores. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) showed that the roughness of the surface was reduced by an increase in UV irradiation times. The rejections of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate were moderate and declined with the increase of concentration. We observed that by increasing UV irradiation time and nanofiltration pressure applied, retention of dyes was enhanced and in the most irradiated membrane (M-4 membrane) at 4 bars, color removal with a high rejection of about 99.80% was achieved. It was found that the separation efficiency of dyes in the mixture of salt and dyes decreased with the salt concentration due to a decrease in the Donnan effect. It was also found that by varying the pH, the membrane surface and the dyes' charges are changed, which meant that the membrane surface and dyes had different interactions at various pHs.     

聚多巴胺-聚乙烯亚胺改性反渗透膜制备与表征

饮用水短缺和水污染问题严重影响着人类和社会的发展。反渗透技术提供了一种高效经济的方法来生产纯水和处理废水,以缓解这个问题。但是,反渗透膜的污染尤其是生物污染严重制约着其高效应用。膜表面改性技术是提升膜抗污染性能的最常用手段,通过多巴胺盐酸盐(DA)在聚酰胺反渗透膜表面自聚,生成超薄聚多巴胺涂层(PDA),进一步利用PDA涂层上的活性基团将聚乙烯亚胺(PEI)接枝到反渗透膜表面,得到稳定持久的PDA-PEI改性反渗透膜。通过对改性膜的XPS测试,亲水性和抗菌性试验,得到以下结论:PDA成功涂层于反渗透膜表面,且PEI成功接枝于PDA涂层表面;PDA-PEI改性增大了膜表面的亲水性,提升了反渗透膜抗污染的能力,使其具有了一定的抗菌能力。     

Effects of starvation conditions on biomass behaviour for minimization of sludge production in membrane bioreactors.

The behaviour of an activated sludge system in starvation conditions was examined in batch according to substrate impulses defined by different S0/X0 ratio. The answer was characterised by an exogenous phase followed by a starvation one. If at high S0/X0 ratio, bacterial cell multiplication was the main synthesis process during exogenous phase, at low S0/X0 ratio the observed phenomenon was compound storage. In starvation conditions, for the lowest S0/X0 ratio, a rapid decrease in the MLVSS without soluble proteins production was observed. No bacterial lysis occurred and this phenomenon was due to consumption of the storage compounds with a decrease rate equal to 0.74d(-1). For high S0/X0 ratio, as soon as the exogenous phase was completed, a decrease of the MLVSS simultaneously to a soluble protein production was observed. An immediate bacterial lysis occurred with a decay rate equal to 0.53 d(-1). Because MBR systems work generally in low F/M conditions, the activity of the present microbial population is close to the one observed in starvation phase. This work points out that these conditions do not allow net bacterial growth and cells just use lysis products to satisfy their maintenance requirements. These assumptions confirm the feasibility of a decrease of the net biomass production in a MBR when high sludge retention time is operated.     

Investigation of microbial communities on reverse osmosis membranes used for process water production.

In the present study, the diversity and the phylogenetic affiliation of bacteria in a biofouling layer on reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were determined. Fresh surface water was used as a feed in a membrane-based water purification process. Total DNA was extracted from attached cells from feed spacer, RO membrane and product spacer. Universal primers were used to amplify the bacterial 16S rRNA genes. The biofilm community was analysed by 16S rRNA-gene-targeted denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and the phylogenetic affiliation was determined by sequence analyses of individual 16S rDNA clones. Using this approach, we found that five distinct bacterial genotypes (Sphingomonas, Beta proteobacterium, Flavobacterium, Nitrosomonas and Sphingobacterium) were dominant genera on surfaces of fouled RO membranes. Moreover, the finding that all five "key players" could be recovered from the cartridge filters of this RO system, which cartridge filters are positioned before the RO membrane, together with literature information where these bacteria are normally encountered, suggests that these microorganisms originate from the feed water rather than from the RO system itself, and represent the fresh water bacteria present in the feed water, despite the fact that the feed water passes an ultrafiltration (UF) membrane (pore size approximately 40 nm), which is able to remove microorganisms to a large extent.     

新加坡樟宜2新生水厂双膜系统运行性能及反渗透膜污堵特性

新加坡樟宜2新生水项目产水能力22.8万m3/d,设计总回收率>70％.该项目利用城镇污水处理厂二级出水为原水,经过微滤系统与反渗透系统双膜法两级处理,生产出的新生水用于工业用水及补充饮用水水源.微滤系统对浊度的去除率能够达到93.4％.反渗透系统出水浊度稳定在(0.04±0.01)NTU;总有机碳能够降至(74.42±4.38)μg/L,去除率达99.4％,脱盐率>99％,出水NH3-N能够达到(0.27±0.03)mg/L.新生水水质不仅满足新加坡新生水水质要求,且优于新加坡及世界卫生组织(WHO)的饮用水标准.通过对反渗透重点位置膜组件的污堵情况分析确认,已使用3年的反渗透膜组件污染物主要为无机组分.     

低压反渗透膜在化工厂精馏塔循环冷却水中的应用

针对内蒙古某化工厂的精馏塔冷却系统对冷却水水质的要求,确定了以井水作为原水,以反渗透为主的水处理技术。介绍了反渗透系统的设计和低压膜元件LP22-8040在反渗透系统中的运行情况。     

Survey on production quality of electrodialysis reversal and reverse osmosis on municipal wastewater desalination

Water shortage has become an emerging environmental issue. Reclamation of the effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) is feasible for meeting the growth of water requirement from industries. In this study, the results of a pilot-plant setting in Futian wastewater treatment plant (Taichung, Taiwan) were presented. Two processes, sand filter - ultrafiltration - reverse osmosis (SF-UF-RO) and sand filter - electrodialysis reversal (SF-EDR), were operated in parallel to evaluate their stability and filtrate quality. It has been noticed that EDR could accept inflow with worse quality and thus required less pretreatment compared with RO. During the operation, EDR required more frequent chemical cleaning (every 3 weeks) than RO did (every 3 months). For the filtrate quality, the desalination efficiency of SF-EDR ranged from 75 to 80% in continuous operation mode, while the conductivity ranged from 100 to 120 μS/cm, with turbidity at 0.8 NTU and total organic carbon at 1.3 mg/L. SF-EDR was less efficient in desalinating the multivalent ions than SF-UF-RO was. However for the monovalent ions, the performances of the two processes were similar to each other. Noticeably, total trihalomethanes in SF-EDR filtrate was lower than that of SF-UF-RO, probably because the polarization effects formed on the concentrated side of the EDR membrane were not significant. At the end of this study, cost analysis was also conducted to compare the capital requirement of building a full-scale wastewater reclamation plant using the two processes. The results showed that using SF-EDR may cost less than using SF-UF-RO, if the users were to accept the filtrate quality of SF-EDR.     

反渗透处理高含盐废水的实验研究与膜污染分析

试验以经过混凝-超滤预处理后的高含盐废水为研究对象,考察了一级两段反渗透处理工艺对CODcr、TDS等的去除效果以及操作压力、温度、pH等因素对反渗透去除效果的影响。研究表明:在最佳工艺条件下,CODcr的去除率大于90%,TDS的去除率大于99%。反渗透处理后出水达到工业循环冷却水水质要求(GB50330-2002)。膜受污染后采用化学清洗和水力清洗相结合的方法可使膜的透水量恢复97.53%。     

Short- and long-term fouling characteristics of reverse osmosis membrane at full scale leachate treatment plant

This research is focused on characterizing the foulants on a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane taken from a full-scale leachate treatment plant in Thailand. The system consists of a physico-chemical pre-treatment unit and RO system and has been in operation for 2 years. Ferric chloride (FeCl(3)) was added to the open-jet sedimentation tank at 2.0-2.5 g/l dosage for chemical coagulation. The supernatant from the sedimentation tank was polished using a pressurized sand filter prior to entering the RO system. The RO unit consists of seven pressurized vessels and 42 membrane elements (6 elements in each vessel). The recovery ratio and operating pressure in the RO system were maintained at 50% and 1.5-2.5 MPa. Fouled membranes obtained from short-term (6 months) and long-term operation (2 years) were taken from the system and analyzed by autopsy and sequential cleaning methods. The analysis of foulants on the membrane surfaces revealed that Fe deposits at 3.11 g/m(2). For short-term operated membranes, water cleaning could recover 32.14 and 7.45% of initial pure water flux on the 1st and 6th membrane elements. NaOH cleaning, however, recovered more than 90% of initial flux, much higher than that of HCl solution in both elements. For long-term operated membranes, pure water flux recovery was below 5% for both 1st and 6th elements. Sequential cleaning by NaOH followed by HCl yielded the best results. Nevertheless, flux recovery through sequential cleaning of long-term operated membranes was only 35.3 and 19.1% for the 1st and the 6th elements, respectively.     

水闸消能防冲设计条件的确定

闸下冲刷破坏较普遍,消能防冲设计条件选择不当是原因之一.水闸消能防冲设计条件一般选用最大单宽能量E=ρgΔHq作为控制条件.由于水闸的上下游水位及泄量是随闸门开度的大小和下游河道充水时间的长短而变化的,为确定符合单宽能量最大这一点的工况,只能通过将闸门分级开启的方法,用恒定流的公式逐级试算寻求.通过水工模型试验,并经原型观测资料验证,证明闸门开启过程中的水流是符合圣维南方程的非恒定流,并找到确定满足单宽能量E=ρgΔHq最大时的下游水深ht的途径.     

Modular expert system for the diagnosis of operating conditions of industrial anaerobic digestion plants.

Anaerobic digestion (AD) plants are highly efficient wastewater treatment processes with possible energetic valorisation. Despite these advantages, many industries are still reluctant to use them because of their instability in the face of changes in operating conditions. To the face this drawback and to enhance the industrial use of anaerobic digestion, one solution is to develop and to implement knowledge base (KB) systems that are able to detect and to assess in real-time the quality of operating conditions of the processes. Case-based techniques and heuristic approaches have been already tested and validated on AD processes but two major properties were lacking: modularity of the system (the knowledge base system should be easily tuned on a new process and should still work if one or more sensors are added or removed) and uncertainty management (the assessment of the KB system should remain relevant even in the case of too poor or conflicting information sources). This paper addresses these two points and presents a modular KB system where an uncertain reasoning formalism is used to combine partial and complementary fuzzy diagnosis modules. Demonstration of the interest of the approach is provided from real-life experiments performed on an industrial 2,000 m3 CSTR anaerobic digester.     

水轮机抗汽蚀材料及表面防护技术的应用现状及趋势

汽蚀和磨损是水轮机和其他过流部件普遍存在的主要问题。从这两个问题出发,阐述了水轮机叶轮材料及其表面防护技术的应用现状及趋势。结合材料及其表面防护技术的发展,认为高速火焰喷涂(HVOF)制备的纳米金属陶瓷复合涂层可望有效地解决水轮机的汽蚀和磨损问题。     

Application of immersed MF (IMF) followed by reverse osmosis (RO) membrane for wastewater reclamation: A case study in Malaysia.

A pilot scale membrane plant was constructed and monitored in Shah Alam, Malaysia for municipal wastewater reclamation for industrial application purposes. The aim of this study was to verify its suitability under the local conditions and environmental constraints for secondary wastewater reclamation. Immersed-type crossflow microfiltration (IMF) was selected as the pretreatment step before reverse osmosis filtration. Secondary wastewater after chlorine contact tank was selected as feed water. The results indicated that the membrane system is capable of producing a filtrate meeting the requirements of both WHO drinking water standards and Malaysian Effluent Standard A. With the application of an automatic backwash process, IMF performed well in hydraulic performance with low fouling rate being achieved. The investigations showed also that chemical cleaning is still needed because of some irreversible fouling by microorganisms always remains. RO treatment with IMF pretreatment process was significantly applicable for wastewater reuse purposes and promised good hydraulic performance.     

The assessment of different operating strategies for minimising activated sludge deflocculation under temperature transient conditions.

Three operating strategies were tested for decreasing activated sludge deflocculation due to temperature shifts from 30 degrees to 45 degrees C: magnesium sludge enrichment, increased sludge retention time (33 d), and spikes of an easily degradable substrate (methanol). The temperature shifts were conducted sequentially in 4 parallel lab-scale sequencing batch reactors (SBRs) treating kraft pulp mill effluent. Three SBRs operated at an SRT = 20 days, and in one of them the sludge was not manipulated, thus, serving as a reference SBR. The temperature shift was associated with decreased soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) removals, decreased sludge settleability and substrate removal capacity, and increased effluent suspended solids (ESS) and turbidity levels. The shift also increased the sludge specific respiration rates and reduced the sludge substrate removal capacity. Sludge deflocculation was assessed as floc solubilisation (increased effluent SCOD levels) and floc fragmentation (increase in effluent solids smaller than 50 microm). Mg enrichment of the sludge and methanol spikes reduced the ESS levels (in 9 and 25%), and the three operating strategies decreased effluent turbidity (in 22-35%) compared to the maximum levels from the non-manipulated reactor (44 mg ESS/L). The stronger sludge floc structure achieved by magnesium enrichment and a high sludge age of 33 days was unsuccessful in significantly decreasing deflocculation. The mechanisms involved in sludge deflocculation require further fundamental research.