0000000001101212
AUTHOR
M. C. Wentzel
Kinetics of nitrogen removal in a MBR nutrient removal activated sludge system
The application of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology to biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge (AS) systems is limited and uncertainty exists as to the impact of the conditions induced by the membranes on the biologically mediated processes of nutrient removal. Two main conditions associated with MBRs are (1) high total suspended solids (TSS) concentrations (8–20 g/L) and (2) different selection pressures due to biomass retention not being based on settleability, compared with conventional systems with secondary settling tanks (SSTs). Recently, Ramphao et al. [1] concluded that incorporating membranes in BNR AS makes a profound difference to the design of the system. Previous…
Design and performance of BNR activated sludge systems with flat sheet membranes for solid-liquid separation
The use of immersed membranes for solid-liquid separation in biological nutrient removal activated sludge (BNRAS) systems was investigated at lab scale. Two laboratory-scale BNR activated sludge systems were run in parallel, one a MBR system and the other a conventional system with secondary settling tanks. Both systems were in 3 reactor anaerobic, anoxic, aerobic UCT configurations. The systems were set up to have, as far as possible, identical design parameters such as reactor mass fractions, recycles and sludge age. Differences were the influent flow and total reactor volumes, and the higher reactor concentrations in the MBR system. The performances of the two systems were extensively mo…
Biological nutrient removal in membrane bioreactors: denitrification and phosphorus removal kinetics.
The impact of including membranes for solid liquid separation on the kinetics of nitrogen and phosphorus removal was investigated. To achieve this, a membrane bioreactor (MBR) biological nutrient removal (BNR) activated sludge system was operated. From batch tests on mixed liquor drawn from the MBR BNR system, denitrification and phosphorus removal rates were delineated. Additionally the influence of the high total suspended solids concentrations present in the MBR BNR system and of the limitation of substrate concentrations on the kinetics was investigated. Moreover the ability of activated sludge in this kind of system to denitrify under anoxic conditions with simultaneous phosphate uptak…