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Novel electrokinetic approach reduces membrane fouling
Sharif Ibeid1, Maria Elektorowicz, Jan A Oleszkiewicz
1Dept. of Building, Civil and Environmental Eng., Concordia University, Montreal, Canada H3G 1M8.
Water Research
|September 10, 2013
Summary
A novel submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR) significantly reduced membrane fouling compared to traditional membrane bioreactors (MBR). This innovative system effectively lowers fouling by utilizing electrokinetic processes to treat wastewater.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Engineering
- Water Treatment Technologies
- Membrane Science
Background:
- Membrane fouling remains a significant challenge in membrane bioreactors (MBRs), increasing operational costs and reducing efficiency.
- Submerged membrane electro-bioreactors (SMEBRs) offer a potential solution by integrating electrokinetic processes to mitigate fouling.
- Understanding the impact of varying wastewater conditions on SMEBR performance is crucial for its practical application.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of a submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR) in reducing membrane fouling compared to a conventional membrane bioreactor (MBR).
- To assess the performance of SMEBR under different protein concentrations in synthetic wastewater and in pilot-scale raw municipal wastewater.
- To elucidate the mechanisms by which electrokinetic processes in SMEBR contribute to fouling reduction.
Main Methods:
- Bench-scale experiments comparing SMEBR and MBR performance with synthetic wastewater at varying protein levels (high, low, zero).
- Operation at flux equal to membrane critical flux to induce high fouling rates.
- Pilot-scale study of SMEBR using raw municipal wastewater under real-world conditions.
Main Results:
- SMEBR demonstrated significantly lower membrane fouling rates than MBR across all tested conditions: 5.8 times lower for high protein, 5.1 times lower for low protein, and 1.3 times lower for zero protein wastewater.
- Pilot-scale SMEBR showed a three-fold reduction in membrane fouling rate compared to MBR with raw municipal wastewater.
- Reduced supernatant concentrations of soluble microbial products (SMP) were observed in SMEBR.
Conclusions:
- Electrokinetic processes in SMEBR effectively reduce membrane fouling by removing soluble microbial products and conditioning suspended solids.
- SMEBR presents a promising technology for enhanced wastewater treatment with reduced fouling, leading to improved operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
- The findings support the potential of SMEBR for application in both synthetic and real municipal wastewater treatment scenarios.
Keywords:
ElectrokineticsExtra-polymer substances (EPS)Floc-bound waterMembrane bioreactor (MBR)Membrane foulingSoluble microbial products (SMP)Submerged membrane electro-bioreactor (SMEBR)More Related Videos
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