Total Fouling Resistance Research Articles

Enhanced performance of aerobic granular sludge-membrane system through the utilization of different iron-based nano-metal oxides for mitigating membrane fouling

Fe3O4, γ-Fe2O3, and α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles play a crucial role in influencing the adsorption capacity and pretreatment efficacy as iron-based nano-metal oxides due to their distinct structural and physicochemical properties. However, the impact of these adsorbents on membrane filtration efficiency remains unexplored. This study aimed to investigate the influence of these three adsorbents on membrane fouling in an aerobic granular sludge–membrane system (AGSMS) used for municipal wastewater reuse treatment. The results demonstrated that under optimal conditions, γ-Fe2O3 exhibited superior effectiveness in removing low and medium molecular weight contaminants from wastewater, resulting in a higher normalized flux (0.59) and reduced total fouling resistance (2.66 × 1011 m−1). It also showed the highest removal rate for organic matter and suspended solids, making it particularly effective in mitigating AGSMS membrane fouling. However, excessive addition (2 g/L) of Fe3O4, γ-Fe2O3, and α-Fe2O3 could potentially hinder the proper operation of the AGSMS. Pre-adsorption facilitated the formation of a porous cake layer while inhibiting standard blocking behavior. Additionally, the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory analysis revealed a substantial energy barrier between membrane-foulant interactions (125.65 kT) as well as foulant-foulant interactions (62.06 kT) within the γ-Fe2O3 system, confirming its exceptional antifouling characteristics. This study offers valuable insights into the selection of iron oxide adsorbents for membrane fouling mitigation and wastewater reuse.

Effect of organic loading rates on the performance of membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment behaviours, fouling, and economic cost

Although submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) are widely used in treating municipal wastewater and recovery of potential resources, membrane operational parameters and membrane fouling control remain debated issues. In this study, the treatment of municipal wastewater by MBR at high-biomass sludge (MLSS (g/L) ranging from 5.4 g/L to 16.1 g/L) was assessed at an organic loading rates (OLRs) ranging from 0.86 to 3.7 kg COD/m3d. The correlation between trans-membrane pressure and total fouling resistance was thoroughly investigated in this study. According to the findings, greater OLRs of 0.86 to 3.7 kg COD/m3d caused a decrease in COD, BOD, and NH4–N removal efficiency, and higher OLRs of 3.7 kg COD/m3d resulted in a higher increase in total fouling resistance (Rt). The economic study of using the MBR system proved that for a designed flow rate of 20 m3/d, the payback period from using the treated wastewater will be 7.98 years, which confirms the economic benefits of using this MBR for treating municipal wastewater. In general, understanding the challenges facing the efficiency of MBR would improve its performance and, consequently, the sustainability of wastewater reclamation.

Using Fe(II)/Fe(VI) activated peracetic acid as pretreatment of ultrafiltration for secondary effluent treatment: Water quality improvement and membrane fouling mitigation

Ultrafiltration (UF) is a technology commonly used to treat secondary effluents in wastewater reuse; however, it faces two main challenges: 1) membrane fouling and 2) inadequate nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and organic micropollutants (OMPs) removal. To address these two issues, in this study, we applied peracetic acid (PAA), Fe(VI)/PAA, and Fe(II)/PAA as UF pretreatments. The results showed that the most effective pretreatment was Fe(II)/200 μM PAA, which reduced the total fouling resistance by 90.2%. In comparison, the reduction was only 29.7% with 200 μM PAA alone and 64.3% with Fe(VI)/200 μM PAA. Fe(II)/200 μM PAA could effectively remove fluorescent components and hydrophobic organics in effluent organic matter (EfOM), and enhance the repulsive force between foulants and membrane (according to XDLVO analysis), and consequently, mitigate pore blocking and delay cake layer formation. Regarding pollutant removal, Fe(II)/200 μM PAA effectively degraded OMPs (>85%) and improved P removal by 58.2% via in-situ Fe(Ⅲ) co-precipitation. The quencher and probe experiments indicated that FeIVO2+, •OH, and CH3C(O)OO•/CH3C(O)O• all played important roles in micropollutant degradation with Fe(II)/PAA. Interestingly, PAA oxidation produced highly biodegradable products such as acetic acid, which significantly elevated the BOD5 level and increased the BOD5/total nitrogen (BOD5/TN) ratio from 0.8 to 8.6, benefiting N removal with subsequent denitrification. Overall, the Fe(II)/PAA process exhibits great potential as a UF pretreatment to control membrane fouling and improve water quality during secondary effluent treatment.

Long-term operational performance and membrane fouling mechanisms of AGMBR treating municipal wastewater under different superficial air velocities

The granulation and stability of aerobic granular sludge (AGS) as well as membrane fouling in AGS-membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) are significantly influenced by superficial air velocity (SAV). However, there is a lack of relevant research on this topic. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the specific impacts of SAV on AGMBR performance and membrane fouling. The results showed that the experimental SAVs (1.6, 2.1, and 2.6 cm/s) were found to provide sufficient dissolved oxygen for the removal of organics and ammonium nitrogen at efficiencies exceeding 94.50% and 99.40%, respectively. The larger SAV also extended the overall lifespan of the AGMBR, while altering both the content of foulants on fouled membranes and their associated microbial community structure. Moreover, the cake layer exhibiting the highest degree of porosity was observed at an SAV of 2.6 cm/s, which corresponded to the largest pore blocking fouling resistance (28.81% of the total fouling resistance) and the presence of fluorine on the fouled membrane. Additionally, the results from extended Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (XDLVO) theory were consistent with the increase in transmembrane pressure. Polysaccharides (PS) played a more significant role than proteins in membrane fouling, and the PS present in soluble microbial products exhibited a strong correlation with fouling resistance distribution. This study aims to optimize the treatment performance and minimize membrane fouling in AGMBR, thereby establishing a mutually beneficial scenario that is essential for the practical implementation of wastewater reuse in engineering.

Assessment of natural tannin-based coagulant for effective ultrafiltration (UF) of UASB effluent: Fouling mechanisms, pollutant removal and water reclamation feasibility

In this work, tannin coagulant (TANm) was applied at different dosages and compared with a PACl for UASB effluent filterability enhancement during membrane ultrafiltration. The results showed that TANm exhibited the greatest potential to improve UASB effluent filterability. Flux decay, total fouling resistance, and specific cake layer resistance were all reduced by both coagulants. However, the highest flux (55%) and fouling resistance reduction (70%) were obtained with 40 mg.L−1 of TANm, which was caused by an increase in particles larger than 200 μm, facilitating its removal by cross-flow filtration. Protein and carbohydrate reduction in the membrane was only observed at 25 mg.L−1 for both coagulants, with a higher influence of proteins in strongly/very strongly bound for all samples. In addition, fouling irreversibility increases, with a strong correlation between TANm dosage and Rirr and complete and intermediate pore blocking pointed as the main mechanisms responsible for irreversibility for both coagulants. Based on these and other findings, the mechanisms of the fouling layer adhered to the membrane with coagulants included the formation of complexes with proteins that were more strongly adhered (related to UASB effluent zeta potential increase), the density of the cake layer due to the presence of compact aggregates, and action of the coagulants themselves as foulants. Lastly, the economic evaluation revealed that the system without coagulant would have a lower total cost, but payback showed that the application of TANm has a lower investment time of return due to a lesser CAPEX.

Effect of superficial gas velocity on membrane fouling behavior and evolution during municipal wastewater treatment

Aerobic granular sludge membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) is a promising technology for wastewater reuse and membrane fouling mitigation. Superficial gas velocity (SGV) plays an important role in the efficient and stable operation of AGMBR. However, the effect of SGV on the membrane fouling behavior and evolution of AGMBR has not been reported, which was systematically investigated in this study. AGMBR with various SGVs was used to treat synthetic municipal wastewater, and more than 94.5% and 60.5% of organics and total nitrogen, respectively, were removed at all SGVs. Further, a larger SGV prolonged the AGMBR overall operation. Contents and physiochemical properties of foulants varied with SGV and transmembrane pressure (TMP). Micro-level analyses revealed that the proportion of pore-blocking resistance in total fouling resistance as well as the microbial community diversity in the sludge mixture or on the membrane surface increased with TMP and SGV. The correlation analyses demonstrated that decreasing the polysaccharide content of soluble microbial products, increasing the protein content of tight extracellular polymeric substances in the sludge mixture, and enhancing the relative abundance of Bacteroidia and Gammaproteobacteria were beneficial for mitigating membrane fouling. This study reveals membrane fouling evolution and provides theoretical guidance for the large-scale application of AGMBR in wastewater reuse.

Moderate KMnO4/Fe(II) pre-oxidation for membrane fouling mitigation in algae-laden water treatment

Moderate KMnO4/Fe(II) pre-oxidation is a promising technique to mitigate membrane fouling and avoid the environmental risk brought by the breakage of algae cells, which often happens in the practical application of pre-oxidation techniques. Various components, i.e., KMnO4, in-situ formed MnO2 and in-situ formed Fe(III), are involved in this technique, and how they mitigate membrane fouling is still unclear. In this work, we investigated their performances on the mitigation of membrane fouling and their influences on the physiochemical characteristics of the organic foulants and fouling layers individually. It was found that Fe(III) formed in situ showed the best performance in controlling membrane fouling among the various components, and the total fouling resistance was reduced by 87.6%. MnO2 formed in situ was most effective in enhancing the organic matter removal performance of ultrafiltration, and the removal rate of the dissolved organic matter reached 39.9%. In addition, after the KMnO4/Fe(II) pretreatment, the electrostatic repulsion between algal foulants was decreased, facilitating the aggregation of foulants. Based on the physicochemical changes of the characteristics of foulants and fouling layers on the membrane surface, we concluded that KMnO4/Fe(II) alleviated the algae-derived membrane fouling mainly in two ways: (1) enhancing the interception effect of ultrafiltration membrane on hydrophobic organic matter, which reduced the blockage of membrane pores; (2) enhancing the sparseness of the cake layer on the membrane surface, which reduced the cake fouling resistance. Our work not only shows that the KMnO4/Fe(II) pretreatment technique has considerable applicative potential in alleviating the membrane fouling caused by algae-laden water, but also gives a comprehensive understanding of the fouling mitigation mechanisms.

Effect of Membrane Pore Size on Membrane Fouling of Corundum Ceramic Membrane in MBR.

Ceramic membrane has emerged as a promising material to address the membrane fouling issue in membrane bioreactors (MBR). In order to optimize the structural property of ceramic membrane, four corundum ceramic membranes with the mean pore size of 0.50, 0.63, 0.80, and 1.02 μm were prepared, which were designated as C5, C7, C13, and C20, respectively. Long-term MBR experiments showed that the C7 membrane with medium pore size experienced the lowest trans-membrane pressure development rate. Both the decrease and increase of membrane pore size would lead to more severe membrane fouling in the MBR. It was also interesting that with the increase of membrane pore size, the relative proportion of cake layer resistance in total fouling resistance was gradually increased. The content of dissolved organic foulants (i.e., protein, polysaccharide and DOC) on the surface of C7 was quantified as the lowest among the different ceramic membranes. Microbial community analysis also revealed the C7 had a lower relative abundance of membrane fouling associated bacteria in its cake layer. The results clearly demonstrated that ceramic membrane fouling in MBR could be effectively alleviated through optimizing the membrane pore size, which was a key structural factor for preparation of ceramic membrane.

Investigating the effect of zirconium‐based and titanium‐based metal–organic frameworks nanoparticles on the performance of polysulfone hollow fiber mixed matrix membrane for dialysis application

AbstractThis study aims to investigate polysulfone (PSF) mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) properties containing zirconium‐based and titanium‐based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs). for hemodialysis application. The nanoparticles were synthesized, and the membranes were produced by the phase inversion method. Membrane characterization conducted by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR‐FTIR), field emission Scanning electron microscope (FE‐SEM), energy‐dispersive x‐ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x‐ray diffraction (XRD), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed the presence of MOF nanoparticles. Also, the evaluation of the specific surface area of nanoparticles was done by BET. The water contact angle reduced from 64.4° to 51.2°, indicating the hydrophilicity improvement, enhancing the pure water flux from 46.8 L/m2h for the pristine membrane to 76.7 L/m2h for the pristine membrane M4. The total fouling resistance decreased from 30% to 21%, and the bovine serum albumin (BSA) adsorption of modified membranes was lower than that of the pristine membrane. Urea and creatinine were cleared significantly for modified ones, up to 82.6% and 72.1%, respectively, and all membranes showed BSA retention of more than 93%. A comparison between MMMs that contained UIO‐66‐NH2 and MIL‐125‐NH2 showed that the former had a better effect on the performance. M4 had better results, indicating high water flux, the lowest fouling resistance, high porosity, lower BSA adsorption, proper clearance for urea and creatinine, and 94.2% BSA retention.

Waste high impact polystyrene (HIPS) microfiltration membranes for water treatment: A thorough experimental study

AbstractIn our previous work, the prepared high‐impact polystyrene (HIPS) membranes, synthesized using four concentrations (20, 25, 30, and 35 wt%) of waste HIPS, were proved to be promising for water purification by microfiltration process (MF). However, the fabricated membranes' mechanical properties and microfiltration process parameters were not investigated. Consequently, in this study, various parameters affecting the previously fabricated membranes' performance in the filtration process, such as membrane mechanical properties, feeding pressure, fouling behavior, and polymer concentration, were thoroughly investigated. With increasing polystyrene concentrations, the ultimate tensile strength of the fabricated membranes increased. When the concentration was increased from 20 to 25 wt percent, the elongation at break rose, but as the concentration was increased further, the membrane became brittle. Permeate flux and rejection both declined as polymer content was raised. Accordingly, the highest flux and humic acid (HA) rejection were shown by 20 wt% (14.18 L/m2h (LMH) and 98.95%, respectively). The antifouling properties declined when the polymer concentration was raised, and 20 wt% had the lowest total fouling resistance. Furthermore, the permeate flux was reduced while increasing the HA initial concentration.

Insights into graphene oxide/ferrihydrite adsorption as pretreatment during ultrafiltration: Membrane fouling mitigation and disinfection by-product control

In this study, a novel adsorbent of graphene oxide (GO) incorporated ferrihydrite (FH) was fabricated and integrated with ultrafiltration (UF) to remove natural organic matter (NOM), the crucial cause of membrane fouling and major precursor of disinfection by-products (DBPs). Compared with FH and powdered activated carbon (PAC), GO/FH exhibited superior removal for high molecular weight (HMW) humic- and fulvic-like substances and low molecular weight (LMW) protein. The cake layer formed by GO/FH alleviated the deposition of NOM on membrane surface or inside membrane pores. Therefore, GO/FH reduced 89% and 95% total fouling resistance and irreversible membrane resistance, respectively, together with the lowest increment of transmembrane pressure. Pearson correlation analysis indicated that DOC, rather than specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA) and UV254, was significantly correlated to the formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) and haloacetic acids (HAAs) when SUVA was below 4 L/mg-C.m. Whilst the HMW NOM (1–20 kDa) was highly related to dibromochloromethane (DBCM) (r = 0.98–1), the LMW fraction (< 1 kDa) was correlated with dibromochloromethane (TCAA) and dichloroacetic acid (DCAA) (r = 0.88–0.98). Inspiringly, GO/FH-UF reduced 90% of carbonaceous DBPs, the concentrations of which well met the WHO Guidelines. In summary, GO/FH-UF substantially alleviated membrane fouling and dramatically reduced DBP formation potential.

Effect of modified microbial flocculant on membrane fouling alleviation in a hybrid aerobic granular sludge membrane system for wastewater reuse

Pre-coagulation is an excellent method for alleviating membrane fouling in aerobic granular sludge (AGS) membrane systems (AGSMSs) for wastewater reuse. However, little attention has been paid to modified microbial flocculants (MMFs) for membrane fouling mitigation. Herein, an MMF was prepared, and the effect of its dosage (5–30 mg/L) on membrane fouling mitigation was investigated. MMF pre-coagulation could effectively alleviate membrane fouling by utilizing electrical neutralization and adsorption bridging. When the MMF dosage was 10 mg/L, the membrane flux was increased by 79.4% and the total fouling resistance was reduced by 90.3%. The MMF dosage of 10 mg/L greatly inhibited the adhesion and accumulation of foulants, thereby forming a loose and porous cake layer on the membrane surface. Moreover, the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory further clarified that the greatest energy barriers existed throughout the filtration process with an MMF dosage of 10 mg/L. Correlation analysis showed that the occurrence of membrane fouling was mainly related to total phosphorus, chemical oxygen demand, and polysaccharides in the raw wastewater. This study reveals the effects of different MMF dosages on membrane fouling and provides a novel approach for MMF pre-coagulation to mitigate membrane fouling.

A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study.

The use of recycled ultrafiltration (r-UF) membranes, originating from end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes, as submerged flat-sheet membranes in an aerobic membrane bioreactor (aMBR) system is described herein for the first time. A feasibility study of this new approach was performed in a laboratory-scale aMBR system. The r-UF membrane performance was evaluated in terms of permeability, fouling behavior, and permeate quality using a widely used commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) as a reference. Tests were conducted under steady-flux operation (at 12 and 14 L·m−2·h−1) and a variable trans-membrane pressure. Synthetic wastewater simulating urban wastewater characteristics with approx. 0.4–0.5 g/L COD concentration was used as the feed. The obtained results showed that the rejection performance of the r-UF membrane was similar to the performance of the commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) under comparable operating conditions. Moreover, concerning fouling behavior, the r-UF membrane exhibited higher fouling resistance compared with the c-MF membrane, although the permeability decline rate was lower. Both membranes had comparable fouling mechanisms behavior, with cake layer fouling resistance accounting for approx. 60% of the total fouling resistance. Finally, a preliminary economic assessment pointed out the potential competitiveness of using r-UF membranes for aMBRs (5.9–10.9 EUR·m−2) and the scaling-up challenges toward industrial applications.

The Effect of Temperature and Transmembrane Pressure on the Camel Milk Ultrafiltration Performance: An Optimization Study

In this study, the effects of transmembrane pressure (TMP, 80-160 kPa) and temperature (T, 20-40 oC) were investigated on the ultrafiltration (UF) performance of camel milk, including pseudo-steady state permeate flux (JPSS), intrinsic membrane resistance (Rm), reversible fouling resistance (Rrf), irreversible fouling resistance (Rif), solutes rejection (protein (RP), lactose (RL), ash (RA) and total solids (RTS)) and minerals rejection (aluminum (RAl), iron (RFe), zinc (RZn), manganese (RMn), calcium (RCa), phosphorus (RPh), sodium (RNa), magnesium (RMg), and potassium (RK)). According to the obtained results, increasing TMP led to a significant increase in JPSS, Rrf, and RA while increasing T caused a significant increase in JPSS, Rrf, RL, RA, and the rejection of all minerals. Although the total fouling resistance (Rf) increased by increasing TMP and T, the share of Rrf was higher in high TMP and T compared to Rif. The results also showed that none of the linear, quadratic, and interaction effects of TMP and T on the Rm, RTS, and RP of the samples were significant. In general, camel milk solute rejections, i.e., RTS, RP, RL, RA, RAl, RFe, RZn, RMn, RCa, RPh, RNa, RMg, and RK were, on average, 51.03, 97.51, 4.73, 34.07, 99.05, 95.70, 90.64, 99.99, 46.09, 32.74, 20.44, 19.44, and 7.78%, respectively. Finally, the optimum UF performance conditions in this research with the lowest Rrf, Rif, RL, and RA while the highest JPSS and RP were 135 kPa TMP and 35 oC T.

Evaluations of holey graphene oxide modified ultrafiltration membrane and the performance for water purification

Membrane technology has been widely used in the fields of drinking water treatment with the advantages of pollutants separation. However, membrane fouling has become main obstacle in further application. Graphene oxide (GO) and its functionalized derivatives are considered to be ideal membrane modification materials of membrane fouling control. However, GO coated membranes were suffered from serious flux decline which raises challenges for GO modification. In this study, porous holey graphene oxide (HGO) was synthesized by hydrothermal etched GO to modify UF membranes. Water permeability of HGO membrane was more than twice that of GO membrane at the loading of 0.08 g/m2. At the optimal loading of 0.08 g/m2, the rejection rate of HGO coated membrane on natural organic matter (NOM) such as bovine serum albumin (BSA), sodium alginate (SA) and humic acid (HA) was increased from 55%, 29%, 58%–85%, 72%, 92%, and the contact angle was reduced from 71° to 35° with the HGO coating amount of 0.04 g/m2. Finally, the membrane fouling resistance distribution of each HGO membrane was analyzed given HA as model pollutant, and the effects of HGO on mitigating the organic fouling of Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were discussed. The total fouling resistance decreased from 3.45 to 1.73 with HGO coating, the irreversible fouling decreased by 62.86%–95.83%. Standard blocking was dominated during filtration. It was also found that increasing the loading of HGO could delay the conversion of pore blocking to the cake layer. Overall, HGO coating has an application prospect for membrane fouling control.

The effect of pH and NaCl on the diafiltration performance of camel milk

This study aimed to investigate the effect of pH levels (5.8, 6.3 and 6.8) and NaCl concentrations (0, 75 and 150 mM) on the camel milk diafiltration performance in terms of pseudo‐steady‐state permeate flux, total fouling resistance and compositions of retentate (protein, lactose, ash, total solids and 11 minerals). The results showed that the camel milk diafiltration performance can be enhanced by controlling the pH and NaCl concentrations. In this research, the optimum ultrafiltration performance conditions with the lowest fouling, lactose and ash, and the highest flux and protein were pH 6.6 and 110 mM NaCl.

Photocatalytic Nanofiltration Membrane Using Zr-MOF/GO Nanocomposite with High-Flux and Anti-Fouling Properties

Photocatalytic nanofiltration (NF) membranes with enhanced flux and anti-fouling properties were prepared from a layered in situ nanocomposite of metal organic framework (i.e., UiO-66) and graphene oxide (UiO-66_GO) on a polyamide NF membrane using a pressure-assisted self-assembly method. For filtering pure water and humic acid, the composite membrane with a 10% UiO-66_GO loading (UiO-66_GO/NF-10%) showed a higher water flux (up to 63 kg/m2 h bar), flux recovery (80%), and total fouling resistance (33%) than the pristine NF membrane. Physical and chemical characterization revealed that this performance was attributed to improvements in hydrophilicity, porosity, surface smoothness, and charge repulsion. The UiO-66_GO/NF-10% composite membrane exhibited better physical stability with a relatively low mass loss (8.64%) after five washes than the membranes with mass loadings of 5 and 15 wt%. Furthermore, the UiO-66_GO/NF-10% composite membrane exhibited considerable photocatalytic activity under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation (bandgap: 3.45 eV), which reduced irreversible fouling from 20.7% to 2.4% and increased flux recovery to 98%. This study demonstrated that surface modification with the UiO-66_GO nanocomposite produced a high-flux anti-fouling photocatalytic NF membrane, which is promising for water purification.

Pre-coagulation assisted ultrafiltration membrane process for anaerobic effluent

Abstract Membranes can be used as alternative for post-treatment of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors. However, mainly for anaerobic effluent, fouling is still a challenge and major drawback can be minimized by coagulant addition before membrane filtration. In this work, three concentrations of aluminum sulfate (20, 150, and 950 mg L−1) were applied in UASB effluent to evaluate pollutant removal and fouling mitigation potential in two steps: coagulation/flocculation and crossflow filtration with ultrafiltration membrane. All coagulant dosages removed foulants (e.g. carbohydrates and proteins) before filtration and supernatants showed lower flux decrease in relation to UASB effluent, with an enhancement in reversible fouling fraction in comparison with total fouling resistance. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) analyses showed efficient coagulation and precipitation resulting in less residual aluminum in membrane surface for 950 mg L−1 coagulant dosage. All coagulants concentrations altered the cake layer, assisting crossflow filtration. Coagulation of UASB effluent before membrane filtration indicate an interesting alternative for post-treatment of anaerobic effluent.

Membrane fouling mitigation in different biofilm membrane bioreactors with pre-anoxic tanks for treating mariculture wastewater

This study compared the membrane fouling mitigation in two novel types of biofilm membrane bioreactor coupled with a pre-anoxic tank (BF-AO-MBR)—namely a fixed biofilm membrane bioreactor (FB-MBR) with fiber bundle bio-carriers and a moving-bed biofilm membrane bioreactor (MB-MBR) with suspended bio-carriers—relative to an anoxic/oxic MBR (AO-MBR), at salinities ranging from zero to 60 g/L. The results showed that the FB-MBR mitigated membrane fouling to a greater degree than the MB-MBR and AO-MBR. During operation, the FB-MBR exhibited the lowest fouling development, with three membrane filtration cycles, while the AO-MBR and MB-MBR had 22 and nine cycles, respectively. The key fouling factor in all reactors was cake layer resistance (RC), which contributed to 89.61, 62.20, and 83.17% of the total fouling resistance (RT) in AO-MBR, FB-MBR and MB-MBR, respectively. Additionally, in the FB-MBR, the pore blocking resistance (30.07%) was also an important cause of fouling. Fiber bundle bio-carriers and suspended bio-carriers reduced the RT by 37.68% and 21.24% (mainly the RC) compared to that of AO-MBR. Furthermore, FB-MBR and MB-MBR caused a decrease of suspended biomass (80.14 and 15.90%, respectively), and the latter exhibited a higher sludge particle size than AO-MBR, possibly resulting in the cake layer decline. The studied BF-AO-MBRs further alleviated the fouling propensity by reducing the amount of soluble microbial product (SMP) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) under all salinity levels, especially the FB-MBR. Among the protein components, the amounts of tryptophan protein-like substance and aromatic protein-like substance were significantly lower in the FB-MBR compared to the AO-MBR and MB-MBR. Additionally, at 60 g/L salinity, the structure of the microbial community in the FB-MBR had a lower abundance of Bacteroidetes and more biomacromolecule degraders, which may have contributed to the moderation of membrane fouling.

The effect of mechanical cleaning technology (MCT) on membrane fouling in a novel hybrid membrane photobioreactor (HMPBR) containing Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina)

Membrane fouling is considered in a novel hybrid membrane photobioreactor (HMPBR) including airlift, membrane, and granular particles. In microalgae systems, cake resistance is the main fouling resistance. To mitigate membrane fouling, this system works under varied granular packing ratios, such as 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5% (v/v). The results confirm the good effect of polymeric granules on the reduction of the cake resistance. Compared with the absence of granular particles, the addition of these particles up to 1.5% decreases cake resistance by 53%, whereas cake resistance is the most part of total fouling resistance. Regarding the major foulants, FTIR analysis demonstrates protein which has been known as a major foulant. Moreover, with the increase in the granular packing ratio, the protein concentration in the cake layer increases. This issue could be related to the increase in pore blocking owing to the blockage of the membrane pores and the inability of the protein-like substances to pass the membrane and stay on the membrane surface.