Journal
JOURNAL OF MEMBRANE SCIENCE
Volume 542, Issue -, Pages 430-438Publisher
ELSEVIER
DOI: 10.1016/j.memsci.2017.08.034
Keywords
Filamentous index; Membrane fouling; Soluble microbial products; Extracellular polymeric substances
Categories
Funding
- European Union
- Greek State Program EPAN-II (OPC-II) / ESPA (NSRF): 'SYNERGASIA II'
- Project (FOUL-MEM) - New processes for fouling control in membrane bioreactors [11SYN-8-1084]
- Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation [G ZL 053-1/2015-2016]
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Membrane bioreactors (MBR) constitute an advanced wastewater treatment technology over conventional activated sludge processes, however, membrane fouling remains the basic obstacle preventing their universal application. Extended research has been carried out on this issue but an optimal solution has not yet been found. This research proposes an innovative solution to mitigate membrane fouling by manipulating the filamentous bacterial population in activated sludge. The filamentous bacterial population was adjusted by modifying the MBR set-up, where the aerated bioreactor was divided into two in-series chambers. When a food to microorganisms (F/M) ratio of between 0.4 and 0.5 g COD/g MLSS*d and a dissolved oxygen concentration of 0.5+/-0.3 mg/L was applied in the first chamber, the filamentous index (FI) ranged between 2 and 3 and the activated sludge presented high porosity, thus resulting in low trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and reversible membrane fouling. In the second chamber, the dissolved oxygen concentration was adjusted to 2.5+/-0.5 mg/L and the F/M ratio ranged between 0.01 and 0.02 g COD/g MLSS*d, resulting in an overall F/M ratio within the typical range of 0.08-0.10 g COD/g MLSS*d. Thus, further filamentous bacteria growth was inhibited and soluble microbial products (SMP) concentration was minimized. Finally, TMP was controlled within the range of 2-2.5 kPa for over three months, in contrast to the corresponding TMP of the conventional membrane bioreactor that gradually increased from 2.5 to 5 kPa in the first 25 days and reached 12 kPa after 43 days working time. Therefore, reversible and irreversible membrane fouling was controlled successfully through the proposed innovative filamentous MBR configuration.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available