Abstract
Phosphorus removal from municipal wastewater is primarily accomplished through a combination of biological uptake and chemical precipitation. This study examines the capital and operating costs of four strategies for phosphorus removal: conventional activated sludge (CAS), CAS followed by sand filtration, CAS followed by membrane filtration, and membrane bioreactors (MBR). The cost-effectiveness of these four strategies to achieve three target levels of effluent total phosphorus is contrasted: 2.0, 0.3, and 0.1 mg/L. The impact of simultaneously achieving biological nitrogen removal in the system to achieve 10 mg/L total nitrogen is also considered. This study, which is balanced carefully to try to ensure a ‘level playing field’, reveals that MBR facilities are cost-competitive with CAS facilities when tertiary media filtration or tertiary membrane filtration is required for achieving moderate to high levels of phosphorus removal, particularly when simultaneous nitrogen removal is required.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have