Simultaneous high-strength organic and nitrogen removal with combined anaerobic upflow bed filter and aerobic membrane bioreactor

Biological treatment of high-strength nitrogen wastewater by a combined anaerobic (upflow sludge bed filter, UBF)/aerobic (membrane bioreactor, MBR) system has been studied. This system exhibited high performance on the removal of organic matter and nitrogen simultaneously. Organic and nitrogen concentrations increased from 6,000 to 14,500 mg/L and 300 to 1,000 mg/L, respectively. At the internal recycle ratio of Q (Q is the influent flow rate), average removal efficiencies of organic and total nitrogen were found to be 99 and 46%, respectively with the relatively short HRT of 24 h. When operated with the insufficient alkalinity supply, the organic removal efficiency in anaerobic reactor reduced from 98 to 82%. At high influent ammonia concentration, ammonification which is the dissimilatory nitrate reduction to NH₄⁺ was observed. In case of membrane fouling, transmembrane pressure (TMP) of the combined process was about 9 times higher than that of a unit MBR under same operation conditions. The reason of severe fouling in the combined system might be caused by increased extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and hydrophobicity. EPS composition and SUVA were more sensitive parameters than surface charge and total EPS content, with respect to the change of internal recycle ratio 100–300%.     

MBR和BAF用于城市污水深度处理的工艺特性比较

采用膜生物反应器(MBR)和曝气生物滤池(BAF)2种工艺分别对以生活污水为主的城市污水进行深度处理,以达到污水回用的目的.中试结果表明,在平均水温仅为5℃的情况下,MBR工艺的处理效果明显优于BAF,MBR_4~+工艺对COD、BOD＿5、NH_4~+-N和TP的去除率分别可以达到75%、92%、95%和90%,,而BAF对COD、BOD_5、NH_4~+_N和TP的去除率仅为70%、78%、29%和82%.经核算,MBR和BAF的污水处理运行费用分别为0.82元·m~(-3)和0.55元·m~(-3).与BAF相比,MBR具有处理效果优良、出水稳定、占地面积少,且维护管理方便等特点,因此,在以污水回用为目的的实际工程中推荐采用MBR工艺.     

Effect of an electro phosphorous removal process on phosphorous removal and membrane permeability in a pilot-scale MBR

The pilot membrane bioreactor (MBR) was equipped with an electro-coagulation process for phosphorous removal (EPR process). The effect of the EPR process on nutrient removal and membrane permeability was investigated in this study.Experiments were carried out for about 5 months with the pilot MBR that treated wastewater at a capacity of 50 m³/day. And the MBR used two different materials of the plate type membrane: polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polyethersulfone (PES). Phosphorous ion released from the anaerobic settling tank was coagulated by electrochemical reaction with aluminum ion discharged from aluminum plate electrodes in the EPR tank. The phosphate (PO₄³⁻-P) removal efficiency and the total phosphorous (TP) removal efficiency by electro-coagulation were 89.2% and 79.9%, respectively. Results of particle size distribution (PSD) analysis showed that the particle sizes of flocs were mostly in the range of 50-150 μm, and the membrane resistance decreased significantly in the MBR as the EPR proceeded. Consequently, this study showed that the EPR process was useful for reducing trans-membrane pressure (TMP) and for removal of phosphorous in the MBR, which was operated in long sludge retention time (SRT) conditions.     

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.     

A comparison of submerged and sidestream tubular membrane bioreactor configurations

This paper provides an improved understanding of the effect of sidestream (SS) and submerged (Sub) MBR configurations on hydraulic and biological system performance for a tubular membrane geometry. Effects of key flow parameters, these being aeration rate (U_G) in the Sub MBR and cross flow velocity (CFV) in the SS MBR, on fouling behaviour have been assessed during short-term flux-step experiments. Both synthetic and real sewage feeds have been used. Series of tests carried out with both feeds indicate the similar fouling behaviour observed for Sub and SS MBRs operated at U_G of 0.07-0.11 m s⁻¹ and CFV of 0.25-0.55 m s⁻¹ respectively. Analysis of the TMP-based parameters determined from the flux-step experiments show the effect of U_G in Sub configuration to be greater than those of CFV in SS MBR, and to be more efficient at higher fluxes (up to 97% decrease in fouling rate for U_G increased from 0.02 to 0.2 m s⁻¹, at 291 m⁻² h⁻¹). The influence of MBR configuration on biomass characteristics was also assessed by acclimatising the biomass at three MLSS concentrations for both configurations and revealed the carbohydrate contained in the biomass supernatant to be a possible indicator of fouling for MBR operation.     

Removal of nitrogen from wastewater for reusing to boiler feed-water by an anaerobic/aerobic/membrane bioreactor

The innovative process anaerobic/aerobic/membrane bioreactor (A/O/MBR) was developed to enhance pre-denitrification without the energy consumption of the recirculation pump for reusing wastewater to boiler feed-water. The performance of this bioreactor was investigated. Firstly, the septic tank wastewater with low ratio of COD/TN was disposed by a dynamic membrane bioreactor (DMBR). It was found that, although the high concentration of NO₂⁻–N in the effluent implied the potential ability of DMBR to realize shortcut nitrification and denitrification, the effluent of single DMBR was difficult to reach the criteria of reusing to boiler feed-water. Then, the process A/O/DMBR in disposing the septic tank wastewater was studied. The results indicated that this process not only accomplished the removal of 91.5% COD, 90.3% NH₄⁺–N and 60.2% TN, but also successfully realized pre-denitrification without additional recirculation pump. At last, based on the A/O/DMBR, a pilot plant A/O/MBR was built to dispose the municipal raw sewage. In the stable operation period, the average removal efficiencies for COD, NH₄⁺–N, TP and turbidity reached 90%, 95%, 70% and 99%, respectively. During the tested HRT run of 9.0 h, the effluent of COD, NH₄⁺–N, TP and turbidity was about 10 mg/L, 3 mg/L, below 1 mg/L and 1.2 NTU, respectively, which reached the criteria of the boiler feed-water in China.     

Operation of Membrane Bioreactor with Powdered Activated Carbon Addition

Abstract

The effect of powdered activated carbon (PAC) addition to the activated sludge (AS) in a membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been investigated. The long term nature of the tests allowed the PAC to gradually incorporate into the biofloc forming biologically activated carbon (BAC). One series of tests involved 4 bench scale (2 L) MBRs operated at sludge retention times (SRTs) of 30 days with PAC inventories of 0, 1, 3 and 5 g/L and steady state biomass concentrations of 12.0±1.0 g/L. The characteristics of the mixed liquors (MLSS) from the 4 reactors were compared. Short term filtration tests, including measurement of specific cake resistance (SCR), flux decline profile, and irreversible fouling resistance in an unstirred cell and “sustainable” flux (by monitoring transmembrane pressure (TMP) rise) in a crossflow cell all showed better filtration performance for the MLSS with BAC compared with the AS alone. In terms of SCR and flux decline profile the 1 g/L PAC addition performed best, but in terms of minimizing irreversible membrane fouling and maximizing “sustainable” flux the 5 g/L PAC was best. All 4 systems showed lower total organic carbon (TOC) in the permeate compared to the bioreactors, but the lowest permeate TOC (and the best removal) was for the highest PAC loading.

The benefit of PAC addition was confirmed in a second series of tests with two 20 L MBRs with submerged hollow fibers, one operated without PAC, the MBR(AS), and the other with 5 g/L PAC, the MBR(BAC). For an SRT of 30 days (which involved 3.3% sludge wastage per day and 3.3% new PAC addition per day) and a fixed flux of 21 L/m²hr the MBR(AS) showed a TMP rise of about 2.4 kPa/day whereas the MBR(BAC) showed a rise of only 0.8 kPa/day. However when the MBRs were operated without wastage the performance of the MBR(BAC) was worse than the MBR(AS). Thus the improved performance of the MBR(BAC) requires regular replenishment of aged BAC with fresh PAC.     

Optimization of biological nutrient removal in a pilot plant UCT-MBR treating municipal wastewater during start-up

This study shows that an MBR pilot plant with UCT configuration is able to obtain high nutrient removal efficiency already during start-up. The biological nutrient removal (BNR) efficiencies significantly increased towards the end of the experimental run, achieving a COD removal efficiency exceeding 94% and N removal efficiency in the range of 89 to 93%. P removal efficiencies in the range of 80 to 92% have been obtained. During the experimental period (4 months) the evolution of the activity of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms, obtained from P_release and P_uptake rates, showed a small increase in the activity of polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (PAOs) and denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organisms (DPAOs). The specific phosphate accumulation at the end of the experimental run amounted to 8.0 mg P g^− 1VSS h^− 1 and 3.29 mg P g^− 1VSS h^− 1, for the PAOs and DPAOs respectively. Moreover, the DPAOs activity increased faster than PAOs activity, i.e. from 0.36 to 0.41 of phosphate uptake rate (PUR) ratio.     

Performance and kinetics of membrane and hybrid moving bed biofilm‐membrane bioreactors treating salinity wastewater

A pilot‐plant membrane bioreactor (MBR) and two pilot‐plant hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor–membrane bioreactors (MBBR–MBRs), divided into three aerobic and one anoxic chambers, were started up for the treatment of salinity‐amended urban wastewater. The MBBR–MBR systems worked with and without carriers in the anoxic zone (MBBR–MBRanox and MBBR–MBRn/anox, respectively). The systems were operated from start‐up to stabilization, showing high removal of organic matter—a maximum of 90% chemical oxygen demand and 98% biochemical oxygen demand on the fifth day for MBBR–MBRn/anox in the stabilization phase—but low nitrogen elimination—30% maximum for MBBR–MBRn/anox in the stabilization phase. Biofilm attached to carriers reached less than 50 mg L^?1 in the hybrid system. MBR showed faster kinetics than the two MBBR–MBR systems during start‐up, but the opposite occurred during stabilization. Maximum specific growth rates for heterotrophic and autotrophic biomass were 0.0500 and 0.0059 h^?1 for MBBR–MBRn/anox in the stabilization phase. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 3329–3342, 2017     

The Study on the Ceramic Membrane Wastewater Reuse System with Pre-Ozonation and Coagulation

A new wastewater reuse system using ozonation, coagulation and MF ceramic membrane (0.1 μm) filtration was developed. The testing was performed using secondary effluent treated at the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Tokyo, Japan. The volume of treated water by the pilot study equipment is about 90 m³/day. The combination of pre-ozonation and coagulation processes achieves continuous stable membrane filtration with flux of 4m³/m²/day (167 LMH). A stable membrane filtration could be maintained by controlling ozone dosing rate depending on secondary effluent (raw water) quality fluctuation. The COD (Mn) removal ratio in raw water was 50 to 60%, and the color removal ratio satisfied 80% or higher. The quality of the treated water that was obtained from our pilot study was better than the California's standards.     

Biological Nutrient Removal in a Full Scale Anoxic/Anaerobic/Aerobic/ Pre-anoxic-MBR Plant for Low C/N Ratio Municipal Wastewater Treatment

A novel full scale modified A2O （anoxic/anaerobic/aerobic/pre-anoxic）-membrane bioreactor （MBR） plant combined with the step feed strategy was operated to improve the biological nutrient removal （BNR） from low C/N ratio municipal wastewater in Southern China. Transformation of organic carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, and membrane fouling were investigated. Experimental results for over four months demonstrated good efficiencies for chemical oxygen demand （COD） and NH4^＋-N removal, with average values higher than 84.5%and 98.1%, re-spectively. A relatively higher total nitrogen （TN） removal efficiency （52.1%） was also obtained at low C/N ratio of 3.82, contributed by the configuration modification （anoxic zone before anaerobic zone） and the step feed with a distribution ratio of 1：1. Addition of sodium acetate into the anoxic zone as the external carbon source, with a theoretical amount of 31.3 mg COD per liter in influent, enhanced denitrification and the TN removal efficiency in-creased to 74.9%. Moreover, the total phosphate （TP） removal efficiency increased by 18.0%. It is suggested that the external carbon source is needed to improve the BNR performance in treating low C/N ratio municipal waste-water in the modified A^2O-MBR process.     

A Pilot Study on Performance of a Membrane Bio‐Reactor in Treating Fresh Water Sewage and Saline Sewage in Hong Kong

Abstract

The results of two pilot studies of an immersed membrane bioreactor (MBR) treating fresh water and saline sewage in Hong Kong are presented. The objectives were to demonstrate suitability of the MBR technology to the treatment of Hong Kong sewage and its ability to achieve total nitrogen removal effectively. When operated in nitrification/denitrification mode, the MBR was able to achieve 98% BOD removal, 90–93% COD removal and 82–84% total nitrogen removal with a HRT of 6.8 hours and 300% internal flow recirculation. Very low effluent NH₄ ⁺‐N levels were observed throughout the study suggesting complete nitrification. The MBR was able to achieve full denitrification utilizing organic matter in the raw sewage as a carbon source. The nitrogen removal capacity of the MBR was limited by nitrogen loadings rather than the biological activity in the reactor. The results did not indicate any significant differences in treatment performances with fresh water and saline sewage except that a higher frequency of membrane cleaning was required for the latter.     

Application of A/O‐MBR for treatment of digestate from anaerobic digestion of cow manure

BACKGROUND: Anaerobic digestion (AD) is widely used as an animal manure bioconversion technology. However, the effluent obtained from the digester during the wet‐AD process requires to be treated carefully before discharge if AD technology is to be developed as an effective and environmentally advantageous animal manure treatment. RESULTS: An anoxic/aerobic‐membrane bioreactor(A/O‐MBR) system has been developed for digestate treatment in an AD system treating cow manure. The performance of the A/O‐MBR system in terms of removal of nitrogen, COD and phosphorus were investigated. Results indicated that the average removal efficiencies of NH₄‐N⁺, COD and PO₄^3?‐P were 98.1%, 96.3% and 76.6%, respectively. The fouled membrane from the A/O‐MBR system was cleaned effectively using NaOH and a 30h soak time. CONCLUSION: This study suggests that it is technically feasible to use the A/O‐MBR for the treatment of digestate from a cow manure AD system, and can provide an environmentally acceptable way for the application of wet‐AD in animal manure treatment. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dynamic in-series resistance modeling and analysis of a submerged membrane bioreactor using a novel filtration mode

This study is focused on the physical filtration characteristics of a flatsheet membrane bioreactor (MBR) operated under a novel filtration mode. The objective of this research was to demonstrate the possibility of running an MBR with high MLSS concentration for prolonged periods without frequent blocking of the membranes. Current MBR designs, mostly dictated by the manufacturers, have restrictions on the level of MLSS due to fouling. It has been observed that this restraint can be eliminated by applying high shear rates for better removal of cake layer from membrane surface. A pilot scale MBR was setup at the inlet works of a domestic sewage treatment plant. The system was dynamically modeled and calibrated for flux, hydraulic permeability, transmembrane pressure using the in-series resistance model. Resistance components were experimentally determined and compared against the results of dynamic simulations. Intrinsic membrane resistance (R_m) and fouling resistance (R_f) were the major components contributing to total resistance with fractions of 69% (R_m/R_t) and 30% (R_f/R_t) respectively. It was found that cake resistance did not have major impact on the total resistance which was linked to the high aeration intensity. Proposed model was validated by experiments which indicated its potential use on other MBR systems.     

Influence of sludge loadings and types of substrates on nutrients removal in MBRs

It has been shown that by combining the patented process for biological phosphorus removal with post-denitrification without additional carbon dosing in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) good nutrient eliminations can be achieved. Especially, reported denitrification rates are higher than expected ones. The reason for this is not understood yet but a correlation between acetate dosing in batch trials and DNR has been reported. The present study investigated the influence of COD sludge loading and acetate inflow concentration on denitrification rates in continuous MBRs. A laboratory scale MBR operated with synthetic wastewater was switched from a multi to a mono substrate (acetate) wastewater and compared to three other MBR connected to separate sewer systems. Better eliminations for COD, TN and TP for the MBR operated with acetate were expected. However, elimination efficiencies were on a good level for all plants and configurations (eliminations: 94-97% COD, 86-94% TN, 92-99% TP) and no significant increase for mono substrate could be found. Average denitrification rate and TN elimination was even a bit lower with mono substrate. For increasing COD sludge loads increasing denitrification rates could be found. However, the variation within the rates has proved that many different influences have to be considered.     

Evaluation of multiloop chemical dosage control strategies for total phosphorus removal of enhanced biological nutrient removal process

We developed several control algorithms and compare their control performances for controlling the total phosphorous (TP) concentration in wastewater treatment plant, which has strong influent disturbances and the disturbance effects should be removed while maintaining better effluent quality. An anaerobic - anoxic - oxic (AAO) process, which is a well-known advanced nutrient removal process, was selected as a case study, which is modeled with activated sludge model no. 2. Six control strategies for TP control with a polymer addition were implemented in AAO process and evaluated by the plant’s performance, where the costs of the dosed chemical were compared among the six controllers. The experimental work showed that the advanced control techniques with feedback, feedforward and feedratio controllers were able to control the TP concentration in the effluent, which must be less than 1.50 g P/m³ which is the legal limitation, while reducing the necessary chemical cost. The results showed that the best TP removal performance in the effluent TP removal could be achieved by advanced feedback controller with the tuned control parameters, which showed the best effluent quality and control performance index as well as the cheapest cost of chemical dosage among the six TP control strategies.     

A Novel Sponge‐Submerged Membrane Bioreactor (SSMBR) for Wastewater Treatment and Reuse

Abstract

Membrane fouling has been regarded as one of the biggest challenges to widespread application of membrane bioreactor (MBR). This study focuses on minimizing the membrane fouling and improving the performance of submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) by porous sponge addition. The effects of sponge addition on sustainable flux and membrane fouling were investigated. Acclimatized sponge could significantly increase the suspended growth in SMBR with biomass of 16.7 g/L_(sponge). With the sponge volume fraction of 10%, SSMBR could enhance sustainable flux up to 50 L/m² · h compared with sustainable flux of SMBR (only 25 L/m² · h). SSMBR also exhibited excellent results in terms of DOC removal (over 95%), COD removal (over 97%), lower transmembrane pressure development, and oxygen uptake rate. Over 89% of NH₄‐N and 98% of PO₄‐P were removed when SSMBR was operated with a MLSS concentration of 15 g/L.     

Optimising mixing and nutrient removal in membrane bioreactors: CFD modelling and experimental validation

Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) have been used successfully in biological wastewater treatment to solve the perennial problem of effective solids-liquid separation. The optimisation of MBRs requires knowledge of the membrane fouling, mixing and biokinetics. MBRs are designed mainly based on the biokinetic and membrane fouling considerations even though the hydrodynamics within an MBR system is of critical importance to the performance of the system. Current methods of design for a desired flow regime within the MBR are largely based on empirical techniques (e.g. specific mixing energy). However, it is difficult to predict how vessel design in large scale installations (e.g. size and position of inlets, baffles or membrane orientation) affects hydrodynamics, hence overall performance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) provides a method for prediction of how vessel features and mixing energy usage affect the hydrodynamics and pollutant removal and subsequently allowing optimisation of MBR design and performance. In this study, a CFD model was developed which accounts for aeration and biological nutrient removal. The modelling results are compared against experimental results of two full scale MBRs for the hydrodynamics and against a modelling benchmark for the biological nutrient removal component of the model.     

The effect of COD/N ratio on process performance and membrane fouling in a submerged bioreactor

Influent chemical oxygen demand/nitrogen (COD/N) ratio is used to control fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems. However, COD/N also affects the physicochemical and biological properties of MBR biomass. The current study examined the relationship between COD/N ratio in feed wastewater and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) production in MBRs. Two identical submerged MBRs with different COD/N ratios of 10:1 and 5:1 were operated in parallel. The cation concentration and floc-size of the sludge were measured. The composition and characteristics of bound EPS and soluble microbial products (SMP) under each COD/N ratio were also examined. Batch tests were conducted in 1000 mL bottles to study the process of the release of foulants from the sludge when 1 g of (NH₄⁺-N)/L was added. Results showed that the influent COD/N ratio could change the physicochemical properties of EPS and SMP. Moreover, excessive NH₄⁺ in the supernatant could facilitate the role of NH₄⁺ as a monovalent cation, the replacement of the polyvalent cation in bound EPS, and even the extraction of EPS components from the surface of the sludge to form new SMP.     

Structural Analysis and Dewatering Characteristics of Waste Sludge from WWTP MBR

Abstract

A pilot‐scale UF membrane bioreactor (MBR) of 1 m³/day capacity was set up in an industrial wastewater treatment plant to evaluate its performance. This study mainly focused on testing the dewaterability and structural analysis of MBR sludge. MBR had 14% reduction of excess sludge production in relative to the conventional activated sludge process (CAS sludge). For dewatering, MBR sludge had comparable dewaterability with the CAS sludge but required nearly 20% less flocculant to reach the highest filterability χ and lowest specific filtration resistance (SRF). This could reduce the cost for running the dewatering facilities and final disposal. Meanwhile the chemical and morphological analyses on MBR sludge exhibited lower EPS (exocellular polymeric substances) content, slightly smaller flocs and more compact morphology. Additionally, to estimate the appropriate polyelectrolyte dose prior to dewatering, we measured the hysteresis loop area of the sludge rheogram (shear stress vs. shear rate) using a co‐axial cylinder viscometer. For both sludges, the area dramatically increased at some critical flocculant dosage and then plateaued off. The critical dosage, though not optimal, still led to an acceptable dewatering performance for the sludge.