New Trends for Wastewater Treatment and Their Reuse Using Ceramic Membrane Technology: A Case Study

Abstract

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) process employs conventional activated sludge process and membrane filtration providing greater treatment efficiency in terms of reduction of organic matter, suspended solids and pathogens. MBR process is widely being used for the treatment of municipal wastewater, water recycling in buildings, treatment of wastewater in small communities, treatment of wastewater, etc. An attempt has been made for the treatment of kitchen-sink wastewater (KSW) using indigenously developed ceramic membrane-based pilot scale membrane bioreactor from a low-cost composition of α-alumina and clay. Tubular single-channel and multichannel ceramic microfiltration membranes have been used in the cross-flow mode for the treatment of the wastewater. The porous ceramic membranes have an excellent chemical, mechanical and thermal resistance property. These membranes have been successfully used in our laboratory for separation of iron and arsenic from contaminated ground water. In the present study, separation efficiency of the ceramic membranes has been evaluated alone and in combination with biological pretreatment. Performance of the separation process has been studied in terms of the permeate quality and permeate flux. Considerable reduction in COD, BOD and suspended solids has been observed by suitable process design and controlling the process parameters. The efficiency can be further enhanced to a great extent so that CSIR-CGCRI-developed low-cost ceramic membrane could be an affordable technology.