An osmotic membrane bioreactor-clarifier system with a deep learning model for simultaneous reduction of salt accumulation and membrane fouling

This study investigates a novel hybrid configuration of an osmotic membrane bioreactoreclarifier (OMBRC) to achieve the simultaneous reduction of salt accumulation and membrane fouling. Compared with the conventional OMBR, the OMBRC demonstrated 14 times lower conductivity after 40 d of operation, achieving maximum values exceeding 25,000 and 1800 mS/cm, respectively. The average water flux and flux recovery were approximately 3 and 6 times higher in the OMBRC than in the OMBR, respectively. The ammonium, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen removals of the combined system were measured to be 15%, 11% and 7% higher in the hybrid OMBRC process than in the OMBR, respectively. The hybrid process also reduced the foulant layer thickness in this system to only 15 mm compared with 28 mm in the OMBR. An artificial intelligence-based model was successfully developed for long-term prediction, indicating that the advantages afforded by the hybrid OMBRC can be maintained over long periods of operation with 22 times lower conductivity and 5 times higher water flux compared with the OMBR. A longer lifespan of FO membrane is also predicted in the OMBRC compared to that in the OMBR with the replacements are recommended at 100th and 40th day, respectively. (C) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that the hybrid configuration of OMBRC achieved better performance in reducing salt accumulation and membrane fouling compared to the conventional OMBRC, with a 3-fold increase in water flux and a 6-fold increase in flux recovery. The hybrid OMBRC also exhibited higher removal rates of ammonium, total organic carbon, and total nitrogen by 15%, 11%, and 7% respectively compared to the OMBRC.