Treatment of domestic wastewater with an anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactor (AnCMBR)

Abstract

In this study, a ceramic membrane with a pore size of 80 nm was incorporated into an anaerobic membrane bioreactor for excellent stability and integrity. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies by biodegradation reached 78.6 ± 6.0% with mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) of 12.8 ± 1.2 g/L. Even though the total methane generated was 0.3 ± 0.03 L/g CODutilized, around 67.4% of it dissolved in permeate and was lost beyond collection. As a result, dissolved methane was 2.7 times of the theoretical saturating concentration calculated from Henry's law. When transmembrane pressure (TMP) of the ceramic membrane reached 30 kPa after 25.3 d, 95.2% of the total resistance was attributed to the cake layer, which made it the major contributor to membrane fouling. Compared to the mixed liquor, cake layer was rich in colloids and soluble products that could bind the solids to form a dense cake layer. The Methanosarcinaceae family preferred to attach to the ceramic membranes.

New Insights into the Microbial Diversity of Cake Layer in Yttria Composite Ceramic Tubular Membrane in an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR)

“…Another study further confirmed that biofilm community compose of Methanobacteria and Methanomicrobia in an anoxic/aerobic submerged biofilter system [41]. Further, Yue et al reported that the Methanosarcinaceae family preferred to attach to the ceramic membranes [9]. These similarities of archaeal participation in biofilm formation might be as these are typical archaeal families in anaerobic digestion.…”

“…Accordingly in most studies PVDF membranes have shown over 80% of cake layer resistance from the total membrane resistance [33,34]. Ceramic flat sheet membranes have also shown over 80% of cake layer resistance as the major fouling resistance [9,35]. However, this ceramic membrane shows less than 70% cake layer resistance, which might be attributed to the membrane material, type of wastewater, operational mode, and membrane backwashing.…”

“…AnMBR coupled with ceramic membranes (AnCMBR) has been previously studied in numerous studies investigating performance, and fouling, etc. [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Brief review of operation of anaerobic wastewater treatment with membrane bioreactors

“…While comparing fouling formation on different membranes it was found that ceramic membranes had lower fouling propensity than polymeric membranes due to a weaker bonding between foulants and membranes [8,37]. In addition to their low fouling tendency, the membranes were resistant to more aggressive cleaning agents (used to shorten a cleaning time) due to their excellent stability and integrity Promising technology is forward osmosis process (FO) which can simultaneously produce high quality effluent and preconcentrated wastewater for anaerobic treatment to enable energy and nutrients recovery [38].…”

Effects of Sludge Retention Time on the Performance of Anaerobic Ceramic Membrane Bioreactor Treating High-Strength Phenol Wastewater

“…However, membrane fouling is one of the biggest obstacles which limited the application of AnMBR in wastewater treatment [10,11]. A feasible alternative to alleviate membrane fouling was to use the ceramic membranes as a replacement of polymeric membranes due to their higher membrane hydrophilicity [12,13]. Ceramic membrane filtration operated better than polymeric membrane in terms of lower fouling rate, stronger performance robustness against chemical exposure, and higher mechanical strength [14].…”