A novel γ-Fe3O4-N-BC combined membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment: Performance and mechanism

Abstract

In this study, a new type of iron–nitrogen doped biochar (γ- Fe3O4-N-BC) was developed to improve nutrient removal efficiency and mitigate membrane fouling in combination with MBR. The characteristion of γ-Fe3O4-N-BC, N-BC, and BC revealed that the BET surface area (SBET) of γ-Fe3O4-N-BC, which was 1320.86 m2/g, was greater than that of N-BC (702.75 m2/g) and BC (1033.63 m2/g). The excellent SBET exhibited by γ-Fe3O4-N-BC compared to that of the other biochars is attributed to hydrogen bonding and electrostatic interactions. Compared to the addition of N-BC or BC or the absence of biochar, the addition of γ-Fe3O4-N-BC in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) resulted in superior wastewater treatment performance, for which the average removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia nitrogen (NH4+-N), and total phosphorus (TP) were 94.65 %, 82.56 %, and 65.90 %, respectively. Moreover, after inoculation with γ-Fe3O4-N-BC, the TMP increase rate and time required to reach 42.37 kPa were 2.35 kPa/d and 18 d, respectively. The investigation of the effect of the γ-Fe3O4-N-BC concentration on MBR performance showed that the nutrient removal efficiency in the 500-MBR greater than that in the 350-MBR, 650-MBR, and 800-MBR, and that the membrane fouling was more ameliorative. A mechanistic investigation demonstrated that the 500-MBR had a beneficial influence on sludge biomass growth and helped to improve the nutrient removal capacity of the MBR. The 500-MBR improved the flocculability and stability of the sludge flocs in the MBR by increasing particle size and zeta potential. Changes in the extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) concentration and the smaller protein (PN) / polysaccharide (PS) ratio in 500-MBR also had significant impacts on alleviating the adhesion and accumulation of fouling layers on the improved membrane surface. Consequently, this study provides a new method for nutrient removal and membrane fouling mitigation in the MBR process.