Harvesting Energy from Wastewater Using an Innovative Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor

A semi-industrial scale AnMBR for municipal wastewater treatment at ambient temperature: performance of the biological process

A semi-industrial scale AnMBR plant was operated for more than 600 days to evaluate the long-term operation of this technology at ambient temperature (ranging from 10 to 27 ºC), variable hydraulic retention times (HRT) (from 25 to 41 h) and influent loads (mostly between 15 and 45 kg COD·d−1). The plant was fed with sulfate-rich high-loaded municipal wastewater from the pre-treatment of a full-scale WWTP. The results showed promising AnMBR performance as the core technology for wastewater treatment, obtaining an average 87.2 ± 6.1 % COD removal during long-term operation, with 40 % of the data over 90%. Five periods were considered to evaluate the effect of HRT, influent characteristics, CO…

Energy and environmental impact of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) demonstration plant treating urban wastewater

Abstract In order to assess the environmental feasibility of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology for urban wastewater (UWW) treatment at ambient temperature, a demonstration plant was operated within the LIFE MEMORY project ( http://www.life-memory.eu/en/ ). This plant incorporates full-scale hollow-fiber membrane modules and was fed with the effluent from the pre-treatment of the “Alcazar de San Juan” WWTP (Alcazar de San Juan, Ciudad Real, Spain). Because of the dimensions of this plant, the system can be regarded as a previous step to the scale-up of AnMBR technology for full-scale UWW treatment. High-energy recovery potentials were achieved treating medium-/high-loaded UWW …

Widening the applicability of AnMBR for urban wastewater treatment through PDMS membranes for dissolved methane capture: Effect of temperature and hydrodynamics.

[EN] AnMBR technology is a promising alternative to achieve future energy-efficiency and environmental-friendly urban wastewater (UWW) treatment. However, the large amount of dissolved methane lost in the effluent represents a potential high environmental impact that hinder the feasibility of this technology for full-scale applications. The use of degassing membranes (DM) to capture the dissolved methane from AnMBR effluents can be considered as an interesting alternative to solve this problem although further research is required to assess the suitability of this emerging technology. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of operating temperature and hydrodynamics on the capture of…

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) treating urban wastewater in mild climates

[EN] Feasibility of an AnMBR demonstration plant treating urban wastewater (UWW) at temperatures around 25-30 degrees C was assessed during a 350-day experimental period. The plant was fed with the effluent from the pretreatment of a full-scale municipal WWTP, characterized by high COD and sulfate concentrations. Biodegradability of the UWW reached values up to 87%, although a portion of the biodegradable COD was consumed by sulfate reducing organisms. Effluent COD remained below effluent discharge limits, achieving COD removals above 90%. System operation resulted in a reduction of sludge production of 36-58% compared to theoretical aerobic sludge productions. The membranes were operated a…