title: Sustainable organic loading rate and energy recovery potential of mesophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor for municipal wastewater treatment.
abstract: The overall performance of a mesophilic anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) for synthetic municipal wastewater treatment was investigated under a range of organic loading rate (OLR). A very steady and high chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal (around 98%) was achieved over a broad range of volumetric OLR of 0.8-10 gCOD/L/d. The sustainable volumetric and sludge OLR satisfying a permeate COD below 50 mg/L for general reuse was 6 gCOD/L/d and 0.63 gCOD/gMLVSS (mixed liquor volatile suspended solids)/d, respectively. At a high sludge OLR of over 0.6 gCOD/gMLVSS/d, the AnMBR achieved high methane production of over 300 ml/gCOD (even approaching the theoretical value of 382 ml/gCOD). A low biomass production of 0.015-0.026 gMLVSS/gCOD and a sustainable flux of 6L/m(2)/h were observed. The integration of a heat pump and forward osmosis into the mesophilic AnMBR process would be a promising way for net energy recovery from typical municipal wastewater in a temperate area.
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address: chunhai.wei@kaust.edu.sa.
authors.forename: Chun-Hai
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Moustapha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Harb
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Amy
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Pei-Ying
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Water Desalination and Reuse Center, 4700 King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: TorOve
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leiknes
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis; D018533:Biomass; D019149:Bioreactors; D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources / Q000379:methods*; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Anaerobic membrane bioreactor; Methane production; Municipal wastewater; Sustainable flux; Sustainable organic loading rate