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Membrane-supported biological wastewater treatment
Schriftenreihe Des Vereins Fur Wasser-, Boden- Und Lufthygiene
|June 8, 2000
Summary
Integrating microfiltration membranes into sewage treatment significantly enhances pathogen removal. This advanced biological treatment produces high-quality effluent, enabling increased wastewater reclamation and reducing sludge production.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Treatment Technologies
Background:
- Conventional wastewater treatment struggles with complete pathogen removal.
- Sedimentation is a standard but less effective separation method in biological sewage treatment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the feasibility of microfiltration membranes for pathogen removal in municipal wastewater.
- To evaluate the performance of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) in enhancing wastewater treatment and reducing sludge.
Main Methods:
- Integration of microfiltration membranes into the biological stage of wastewater treatment, replacing conventional sedimentation.
- Operation of pilot plants with municipal sewage to test optimized membrane bioreactors.
- Utilizing membranes with pore sizes of 0.2 micron or less for physical barrier pathogen retention.
Main Results:
- Membrane bioreactors achieve effluent pathogen concentrations comparable to natural background levels.
- Microfiltration membranes effectively retain bacteria and viruses, yielding pathogen-free clarified wastewater.
- Higher biomass concentrations in MBRs improve treatment performance and drastically reduce excess sludge production.
Conclusions:
- Optimized membrane bioreactors offer a feasible method for complete pathogen removal from municipal wastewater.
- The technology enables significantly higher rates of wastewater reclamation due to superior effluent quality.
- Microfiltration membrane integration represents a new stage in advanced biological sewage treatment.