Membrane fouling control and enhanced phosphorus removal in an aerated submerged membrane bioreactor using modified green bioflocculant

This study aims at developing a modified green bioflocculant (GBF) for membrane fouling control and enhanced phosphorus removal in a conventional aerated submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) to treat a high strength domestic wastewater (primary sewage treated effluent) for reuse. The GBF was evaluated based on long-term operation of a lab-scale SMBR. These results showed that SMBR system could achieve nearly zero membrane fouling at a very low dose of GBF addition (500 mg/day) with less backwash frequency (2 times/day with 2-min duration). The transmembrane pressure only increased by 2.5 kPa after 70 days of operation. The SMBR could also remove more than 95% and 99.5% dissolved organic carbon and total phosphorus, respectively. From the respiration tests, it was evident that GBF not only had no negative impact on biomass but also led to high oxygen uptake rate (OUR) (>30 mg O2/L h) and stable specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR). These results also indicated that GBF had no effect on nitrogen removal and nitrification process. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Establishment of an economic evaluation model for urban recycled water

This study aimed at establishing an economic evaluation model to encourage continuing improvement in performance analysis and applying for any infrastructure system of urban recycled water. A thorough study towards characterization and economic performance assessment of urban water reuse scheme were carried out. An integrated evaluation technique was developed by synthesizing the quantitative and qualitative performance indicators related to the water recycled technology and urban water cycle system. Specific performance indicators and indexes were aggregated into an economic analytical modelling for effective evaluation of the water reuse scheme and technology using uniform economic performance standards. Detailed economic analyses were successfully applied to enable determination of economic lifetime of the technology and the whole water reuse scheme. This research confirmed that productivity, efficiency and reliability measurements and factors could be successfully deployed for determining the scheme performance during various life cycle stages (e.g. design development, operational and functional verification, or comparison with other reuse projects). The economic assessment model was applied to improve uniformity of analytical process and performance measure. This article demonstrates benefits associated with the application of a standardized methodology for performing economic assessment and by maintaining strong correlation between multi-parameter approach and adopted performance criteria in terms of productivity, efficiency and reliability. However, to ensure effectiveness of this assessment, the process would require systematic and perpetual inventory of the scheme performance data, consideration of variable factors such as capital and recurrent costs. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

A critical review on the end uses of recycled water

Recycled water provides a viable opportunity to supplement water supplies as well as alleviate environmental loads. The authors examine the sources of recycled water and discusses various end uses. They focus on reviewing the historical development and current status of recycled water on a global scale with containing the evolvement of wastewater treatment technologies, water quality guidelines, and public attitudes. The authors also illustrate typical case studies of recycled water in a number of countries and regions, including Australia, Asia, the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. These pilot studies can be good examples for the future projects. They identify the good prospects of further expansion and exploration of current and new end uses while emphasizing the integrated water planning and management as well as challenging and tasks in the future. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Evaluation of a novel sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor (SSMBR) for sustainable water reclamation

A novel sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor (SSMBR) to treat a high strength wastewater for water reclamation was developed in this study. The performance of this system was evaluated using two kinds of polyester-urethane sponges (coarse sponge with higher density S28-30/45R and fine sponge with lower density S16-18/80R) with sponge volume fraction of 10% and bioreactor MLSS of 10 g/L. The results indicated the addition of sponge in SMBR could increase sustainable flux (2 times for S28-30/45R and 1.4 times for S16-18/80R) and lower TMP development, thus significantly reduce membrane fouling. S28-30/45R gave rise in attached growth biomass and the removal efficiencies of DOC, COD and PO4-P whilst S16-18/80R had better performance in removing NH4-N. Although the SSMBR performed well for most of the trials, the superior recycled water quality was achieved when adding S28-30/45R and S16-18/80R together in SMBR with the ratio of 2:1 and without any pH adjustment during the operation. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Effect of sponge volume fraction on the performance

A novel fluidized bed bioreactor (FBBR) was designed by integration of anaerobic granular activated carbon and aerobic sponge reactors. This FBBR was evaluated at different sponge volume fractions for treating a synthetic wastewater. Polyester urethane sponge with cube size of 1 × 1 × 1 cm and density of 28-30 kg/m3 with 90 cells per 25 mm was used as biomass carrier. The results indicate that the FBBR could remove more than 93% of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). The highest nutrient removal efficiencies (58.2% PO4 -P and 75.4% NH4-N) were achieved at 40% sponge volume fraction. The system could provide a good condition for biomass growth (e.g. 186.2 mg biomass/g sponge). No significant different performance in specific oxygen uptake rate was observed between 30, 40, and 50% sponge volume fractions. © IWA Publishing 2013 Water

Pilot scale study on a new membrane bioreactor hybrid system in municipal wastewater treatment

A pilot scale membrane bioreactor hybrid system (MBR-HS) was evaluated for municipal wastewater treatment. This novel system comprised of a granular activated carbon-sponge fluidized bed bioreactor (GACS-FBBR) followed by a submerge membrane bioreactor (MBR) with the capacity of 2L/min. The results indicated that the MBR-HS could effectively remove 90% DOC and 95% NH4-N. PO4-P removal efficiency was remained stable at about 70% throughout the experiment. Specific oxygen uptake rate (SOUR) of activated sludge increased from 0.72 to 2.21mg O2/gVSSh for the first 10days and then followed by a steady stage until the end of experiment. Sludge volume index (SVI) was always below 50mL/g, demonstrated an excellent settling properties of sludge. The system also showed an achievement in terms of low trans-membrane pressure (TMP) development rate. The TMP increasing rate was only 0.65kPa/day, suggesting GACS-FBBR can be a promising pre-treatment for MBR. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Effect of internal recycling ratios on biomass parameters and simultaneous reduction of nitrogen and organic matter in a hybrid treatment system

© 2016 Elsevier B.V. A new large-scale pilot hybrid treatment system of 53 m3/day was developed by combining 3 treatment methods: switched internal recycling flows to equalization tank (EQ); rotating hanging media bioreactor (RHMBR); and submerged flat sheet membrane bioreactor (SMBR). The system was operated for more than 16 months in a real-world municipal wastewater treatment plant, using different internal recycling ratios and observing/monitoring the results. This paper addresses not only the urgent problems of treating nutrient and organic pollutants in municipal wastewater, but also assesses characteristics of biomass production, sludge yield, and observed yield during the pilot operation. It also details design parameters used to achieve these assessed levels. Furthermore, the effects and correlations of the loading rates, activated sludge and biomass parameters, on different runs were also studied. The purpose of this was to identify the most suitable indicator for assessing the hybrid system's performance. Results strongly indicated that increasing the internal circulation rate greatly influenced the declining yield trend. The lowest biomass production (Px,bio) and sludge yields (PX,VSS or PX,TSS) were shown for conditions in run 3, and run 4, respectively. Overall the developed treatment system performed extremely well in biological terms for actual municipal wastewater treatment and resulted in high pollutant removal efficiencies, reduced sludge production at a reasonable cost. The hybrid system is a potential option for wastewater treatment, reuse and economy

Risk control in recycled water schemes

Recycled water is becoming one of the indispensable and reliable water resources at present. When it is introduced as an alternative source, risks on human health and the environment become major constraints driving the application and extension of recycled water. The authors examine the sources and associated risks of recycled water and introduce the practical risk control technologies on various end uses. They also review some existing risk assessment models by comparing their strengths and weaknesses toward the good approach of integrated modeling. Some critical suggestions on risk management and communication are made based on the given information. © 2013 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Effect of flocculation and/or adsorption as pretreatment on the critical flux of crossflow microfiltration

This study aims at identifying the effect of pretreatment such as flocculation and/or adsorption on the performance of crossflow microfiltration (CFMF). CFMF performance was studied in terms of critical flux. The results indicated that: (1) flocculation alone as a pretreatment could effectively remove the large molecular weight organic matter from 30,000 to 60,000 Daltons; (2) flocculation, together with adsorption as a pretreatment to CFMF, could remove both large and small molecular weight organics; (3) flocculation as a pretreatment was significantly better than adsorption in improving the critical flux; (4) critical flux increased from 100 L/m2.h to 520 L/m2.h when flocculation-adsorption was applied. The critical flux in long-term experiments was the same as that of the short-term experiments. However, the critical flux slightly decreased (5%) in long-term experiments compared to short-term operation with flocculation and adsorption as a pretreatment. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved