title: Submerged membrane adsorption bioreactor as a pretreatment in seawater desalination for biofouling control.
abstract: Submerged membrane adsorption bioreactor (SMABR) was investigated as a pretreatment to reverse osmosis (RO). SMABR removed organic matter by adsorption and biological degradation. At a powder activated carbon (PAC) residence time of 66 d (1.5% of PAC replacement daily), higher organic removal was achieved with removal of a majority of biopolymers (94-97%) and humics (71-76%). A continuous MBR operation with the optimal PAC residence time of 66 d was conducted and compared with MBR with no PAC replenishment in terms of the removal of organic and microbes. High removal of organics of up to 72% was maintained with only a marginal increment of trans-membrane pressure and stable bioactivity (total cell number and adenosine tri-phosphate) during the 50d of operation. The SMABR was found to be a sustainable biological pretreatment to RO with only a small amount of PAC requirement (2.14 g of PAC/m(3) of seawater treated).
authors: Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors: Sanghyun
authors: S
authors: Jeong
authors: Gayathri
authors: G
authors: Naidu
authors: Saravanamuthu
authors: S
authors: Vigneswaran
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D057219:Biofouling / Q000517:prevention & control*; D019149:Bioreactors; D012623:Seawater / Q000737:chemistry*; D012965:Sodium Chloride / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D012965:Sodium Chloride