Enhancement of Bleached Kraft Organochlorine Removal by Coupling Membrane Filtration and Anaerobic Treatment

Abstract

This paper illustrates the feasibility of the anaerobic membrane bioreactor concept for the treatment of segregated kraft bleach plant wastewaters by comparing AOX removal achievable by anaerobic biological treatment, ultrafiltration, and coupled anaerobic/ultrafiltration treatment. If high rate anaerobic treatment (UASB) is used as the base case for comparison, then long term AOX removal efficiencies of more than 48% in the other two systems would be indicative of superior performance. Similarly, the accumulation of less than 5% of the influent AOX in the reactor contents would result in lower levels of AOX in any waste streams removed from the systems for disposal. Judging from the long term cumulative mass balance data, AOX removal efficiencies were improved with the application of both ultrafiltration (54%) and anaerobic membrane bioreactor treatment (61%). However, the improvement in AOX removal achieved with ultrafiltration and anaerobic membrane bioreactor treatment was, at best, modest. Since it w...