title: Evaluation of micropollutant removal and fouling reduction in a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor system.
abstract: A hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) system and a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) were compared in terms of micropollutant removal efficiency and membrane fouling propensity. The results show that the hybrid MBBR-MBR system could effectively remove most of the selected micropollutants. By contrast, the CMBR system showed lower removals of ketoprofen, carbamazepine, primidone, bisphenol A and estriol by 16.2%, 30.1%, 31.9%, 34.5%, and 39.9%, respectively. Mass balance calculations suggest that biological degradation was the primary removal mechanism in the MBBR-MBR system. During operation, the MBBR-MBR system exhibited significantly slower fouling development as compared to the CMBR system, which could be ascribed to the wide disparity in the soluble microbial products (SMP) levels between MBBR-MBR (4.02-6.32 mg/L) and CMBR (21.78 and 33.04 mg/L). It is evident that adding an MBBR process prior to MBR treatment can not only enhance micropollutant elimination but also mitigate membrane fouling.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Yunlong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: Huu H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Ngo
authors.affiliation: Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Long D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Nghiem
authors.affiliation: Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: Faisal I
authors.initials: FI
authors.lastname: Hai
authors.affiliation: Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
authors.forename: William E
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Price
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: wguo@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Wenshan
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D018441:Biofilms; D019149:Bioreactors; D002244:Carbon / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D014873:Water Pollutants / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D014873:Water Pollutants; D002244:Carbon
keywords: Membrane bioreactor (MBR); Membrane fouling; Micropollutant removal; Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR); Sponge