Anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactors for high strength wastewater treatment

A laboratory scale external anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) treating high strength wastewater was operated to assess the effect of gas sparging velocity and organic loading rate on removal efficiency and dynamic membrane (DM) filtration characteristics. An increase in gas sparging velocity (GSV) results in a decrease in DM filtration resistance. DM or cake formation was identified as the main contribution to the total filtration resistance. Over 99% COD removal was obtained in the study regardless of the GSV. The results showed that the DM formation process proceeded until a stable cake layer thickness was reached. An effective pollutant removal and high permeate quality was …