Abstract
The aim of the present work was to investigate the behavior of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) system for the treatment of oily wastewater. A bench scale MBR was fed with synthetic wastewater containing diesel fuel. Organic carbon, hydrocarbon and ammonium removal, kinetic constants, extracellular polymeric substances production, and membrane fouling rates were monitored. The MBR plant was operated for more than 200 days, and the results highlighted good carbon removal and nitrification, suggesting a sort of biomass adaptation to hydrocarbons. Membrane fouling analysis showed an increase in total resistance, likely due to hydrocarbons, which caused an irreversible fouling (pore blocking) mainly due to oil deposition.
Highlights
The growing sensitivity with respect to environmental protection has led to increasing regulatory pressure on wastewater treatment, imposing severe limitations on pollutant concentrations before discharge into the environment
The Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPSs) Bound and the soluble microbial product (SMP) concentrations were measured in accordance with literature for both proteins and carbohydrates content [29,30]
The suspended biomass trend as well as the VSS/TSS ratio are reported a decrease in suspended biomass was observed
Summary
The growing sensitivity with respect to environmental protection has led to increasing regulatory pressure on wastewater treatment, imposing severe limitations on pollutant concentrations before discharge into the environment. In this context, one of the major challenges is represented by the biological treatment of oily wastewater. The main drawback of these technologies consists in high operative costs and in the formation of highly polluted by-products that need further treatment before disposal. For this reason, researchers’ interests have moved to the refinement of biological treatment as a potential affordable alternative
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