Phosphorus and water recovery by a novel osmotic membrane bioreactor-reverse osmosis system.
An osmotic membrane bioreactor-reverse osmosis (OMBR-RO) hybrid system integrated with periodic microfiltration (MF) extraction was evaluated for simultaneous phosphorus and clean water recovery from raw sewage. In this hybrid system, the forward osmosis membrane effectively retained inorganic salts and phosphate in the bioreactor, while the MF membrane periodically bled them out for phosphorus recovery with pH adjustment. The RO process was used for draw solute recovery and clean water production. Results show that phosphorus recuperation from the MF permeate was most effective when the solution pH was adjusted to 10, whereby the recovered precipitate contained 15-20% (wt/wt) of phosphorus. Periodic MF extraction also limited salinity build-up in the bioreactor, resulting in a stable biological performance and an increase in water flux during OMBR operation. Despite the build-up of organic matter and ammonia in the draw solution, OMBR-RO allowed for the recovery of high quality reused water.
Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Wenhai
W
Luo
Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
Faisal I
FI
Hai
Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
William E
WE
Price
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
Wenshan
W
Guo
Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
Hao H
HH
Ngo
Environmental Science Centre, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.
Kazuo
K
Yamamoto
Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: longn@uow.edu.au.
Long D
LD
Nghiem
D019149:Bioreactors; D009995:Osmosis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
D012722:Sewage; D014867:Water; D010758:Phosphorus
Forward osmosis (FO); Microfiltration (MF); Osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR); Phosphorus recovery; Reverse osmosis (RO)