Fouling in membrane bioreactors used in wastewater treatment

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs), in which membranes are applied to biological wastewater treatment for biomass separation, provide many advantages over conventional treatment. However, membrane fouling in MBRs restricts their widespread application because it reduces productivity and increases maintenance and operating costs. Recently much research and development has taken place to investigate, model, and control membrane fouling processes. However, unified and well-structured theories on membrane fouling are not currently available because of the complexity of the biomass matrix, which is highly heterogeneous and includes living microorganisms. Membrane fouling in MBR systems can be reversible (i.e., removable by physical washing) or irreversible (removable by chemical cleaning only), and can take place on the membrane surface or into the membrane pores. Although establishing a general model to describe membrane fouling in such a process is made extremely difficult by the inherent heterogeneity of the syste...

Membrane Fouling in Membrane Bioreactors for Wastewater Treatment

https://www.cell.com/trends/biotechnology/pdf/S0167-7799(07)00321-6.pdf

The status of membrane bioreactor technology

With continuing depletion of fresh water resources, focus has shifted more toward water recovery, reuse, and recycling, which require an extension of conventional wastewater treatment technologies. Downstream external factors like stricter compliance requirements for wastewater discharge, rising treatment costs, and spatial constraints necessitate renewed investigation of alternative technologies. Coupled with biological treatment processes, membrane technology has gained considerable attention due to its wide range of applicability and the performance characteristics of membrane systems that have been established by various investigations and innovations during the last decade. This article summarizes research efforts and presents a review of the how and why of their development and applications. The focus is on appraising and comparing technologies on the basis of their relative merits and demerits. Additional facts and figures, especially regarding process parameters and effluent quality, are used to e...

A. Vogelpohl

Papers

Wastewater treatment in a biological high-performance system with high biomass concentration