title: A novel bioaugmentation treatment approach using a confined microbial environment: a case study in a Membrane Bioreactor wastewater treatment plant.
abstract: A novel bioaugmentation treatment approach, the Small-Bioreactor Platform (SBP) technology, was developed to increase the biological stabilization process in the treatment of wastewater in order to improve wastewater processing effectiveness. The SBP microfiltration membrane provides protection against the natural selection forces that target exogenous bacterial cultures within wastewater. As a result, the exogenous microorganisms culture adapt and proliferate, thus providing a successful bioaugmentation process in wastewater treatment. The new bioaugmentation treatment approach was studied in a full configuration Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) plant treating domestic wastewater. Our results present the potential of this innovative technology to eliminate, or reduce, the intensity of stress events, as well as shortening the recovery time after stress events, consequently elevating the treatment effectiveness. The effective dose of SBP capsules per cubic metre per day of wastewater was achieved during the addition of 3000 SBP capsules (1.25 SBP capsules per cubic metre per day), which provided approximately 4.5 L of high concentration exogenous biomass culture within the SBP capsules internal medium. This study demonstrates an innovative treatment capability which provides an effective bioaugmentation treatment in an MBR domestic wastewater treatment plant.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Water Industries Engineering , School of Engineering, Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee , Israel.|c BioCastle Water Technologies Ltd , Israel.
authors.forename: Ofir
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Menashe
authors.affiliation: b Golan Research Institute, University of Haifa , Katzrin , Israel.
authors.forename: Eyal
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kurzbaum
mesh_terms: D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D062065:Wastewater; D018508:Water Purification / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: SBP capsules; bioaugmentation; domestic wastewater treatment; encapsulation; microbial diversity