Gas-lift anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactors for high strength synthetic wastewater treatment: Effect of biogas sparging velocity and HRT on treatment performance
Abstract A laboratory scale external anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) treating high strength wastewater (influent COD ≈ 20 g/L) was operated to assess the effect of biogas sparging velocity (GSV) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on removal efficiency and dynamic membrane (DM) filtration characteristics. An increase in GSV resulted in a decrease in DM filtration resistance. DM or cake layer was identified as the main contributor to the total filtration resistance. The external AnDMBR achieved over 99% COD removal efficiency irrespective of the GSV. The results showed that the DM formation process proceeded until a stable cake layer was reached. Reducing of HRT resulted in an …
Impact of membrane addition for effluent extraction on the performance and sludge characteristics of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors treating municipal wastewater
Abstract In this study, the impact of membrane incorporation for effluent extraction on the performance of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating municipal wastewater was investigated in terms of system performance and sludge characteristics. A laboratory-scale system was operated in two different operational stages: (i) as a sole UASB reactor and (ii) as an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Membrane incorporation induced an accumulation of fine particles and a decrease in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), resulting in a decrease in particle size distribution (PSD) and, thus, a drop in sludge settleability. Deterioration of sludge settleability led to an inc…
Impact of anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor configuration on treatment and filterability performance
Abstract Submerged and external anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactors (AnDMBRs) have been compared in terms of removal efficiency, filtration characteristics and microbial community structure. High COD removal efficiencies were obtained with both submerged and external AnDMBRs. To obtain an effective dynamic membrane (DM) layer enabling high quality permeate, longer time was required in the external AnDMBR configuration compared to the submerged one. A difference in microbial community structure was identified using pyrosequencing analyses between the submerged and external AnDMBRs. The number of archaeal types decreased in the bulk sludge of the external AnDMBR. External sludge recirculat…