Preliminary Study on Airlift Membran-Bioreactor

A new type of membrane bioreactor named 'airliftmembrane-bioreactor' is discussed. For municipal wastewaterreclamation, the preliminary study on airlift membrane-bioreactorshows its good performance such as higher flux and lower energyconsumption. The airlift membrane-bioreactor is potentiallyapplicable in bioengineer- ing and environmental protection fields.

Rgwo performances of submerged membrane bioreactor treating brewery wastewater: A laboratory study

Performances of submerged membrane bioreactor （SMBR） treating brewery wastewater were investigated in this study. With little variation of COD：TN：TP ratio （100：5：1） in influent, SMBR showed high removal efficiency （ 〉 90% ） for both COD and NH4^＋ - N, and it also showed a strong resistive ability for shock organics loading rate, evidenced by no obvious fluctuation for COD in the effluent when the organics loading rate suddenly increased from 0. 27 g/（ gMLSS · d） to 0. 54 g/（ gMLSS · d）. Comparatively different with the COD removal, TN and TP removal showed a strong correlation with the growth stage of the sludge in SMBR. When the sludge was in the multiplication stage, about 45% of TN was removed and an average removal efficiency of 30% for TP was also observed. However, when the activated sludge was in the steady stage, the removal efficiency for TN decreased to about 30% , whereas, the removal efficiency for TP was very low, and sometimes even below zero. The results of GC/MS indicated that the residual organic matters in the effluent were mainly alkyl hydrocarbon with high molecular weight, and coupling with the results of electroseopic scanning, it is speculated that biomass formed at external and internal membrane fibers played an important role for the removal of small organics.

Evaluation of virus removal in MBR using coliphages T4

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) with gravity drain was tested for domestic wastewater for 65 days. Results showed that the effluent quality was excellent, and met with the reuse water standard of China (GB/T 18920-2002). Virus removal in the membrane separation process was investi- gated by employing coliphages T4 as a tracer. Two microfil- tration membrane modules, with pore sizes of 0.22 and 0.1 μm, were used to investigate their effects on virus rejection at the transmembrane pressure of 8.5 kPa. It was found that 0.1 μm membrane had complete rejection of virus, and 0.22 μm membrane had significant rejection of virus. In the long- term operation of this MBR, no significant difference was observed between both pore sizes because the virus concen- trations of the effluent in both cases were in the same order. Effluent virus concentration at steady state of MBR running was less than 2 PFU/mL. The removal ratios of coliphage T4 in MF processes were more than 105.5. The membrane sur- face deposits played an important role in the rejection of virus. The formation of cake clay on the membrane surface was the main cause of high rejection of coliphage T4 with MF of 0.22 μm.

Landfill leachate treatment by MBR: Performance and molecular weight distribution of organic contaminant

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) with an air-lift bioreactor and gravity flow is applied to treating landfill leachate. More than 99% of BOD5 (biochemical oxygen demand for five days) removal effi-ciency is achieved with less than 35 mg/L of BOD_5 in the effluent at less than 1.71 kg BOD5/m^3·d of BOD_5 loading rate. When DO (dissolved oxygen) is maintained at the range of 2.3―2.8 mg/L and the loading rate of NH_4^+-N (ammonium nitrogen) is kept at 0.16― 0.24 kg NH_4^+-N/m^3·d, the NH_4^+-N in the effluent is less than 15 mg/L. However, compared with high removal rates of BOD_5 and NH_4^+-N, the removal effi-ciency of soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) varies between 70% and 96%. The investigation of molecular weight (MW) distribution has been carried out by the gel permeation chromatography (GPC) so as to understand the fate of organic matters in the MBR treating of landfill leachate. Results indicate that organic matters of the landfill leachate are composed of a high MW fraction (MW of the peak, MWp = 11480―13182 Da) and a low MW fraction (MWp = 158―275 Da). The high MW fraction is not biode-gradable, but can be decreased with microfiltration membrane. The most of the low MW fraction is bio-degradable, but the residue of the low MW fraction is able to permeate through the membrane, thus re-sulting in high SCOD in the effluent of the MBR.