title: Performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.
abstract: Anaerobic treatment of wastewater and waste organic solvents originating from the pharmaceutical and chemical industries was tested in a pilot anaerobic membrane bioreactor, which was operated for 580days under different operational conditions. The goal was to test the long-term treatment efficiency and identify inhibitory factors. The highest COD removal of up to 97% was observed when the influent concentration was increased by the addition of methanol (up to 25gL-1as COD). Varying and generally lower COD removal efficiency (around 78%) was observed when the anaerobic membrane bioreactor was operated with incoming pharmaceutical wastewater as sole carbon source. The addition of waste organic solvents (>2.5gL-1as COD) to the influent led to low COD removal efficiency or even to the breakdown of anaerobic digestion. Changes in the anaerobic population (e.g., proliferation of the genus Methanosarcina) resulting from the composition of influent were observed.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ecopreneurship, School of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Gründenstrasse 40, CH-4132 Muttenz, Switzerland. Electronic address: jan.svojitka@fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svojitka
authors.affiliation: Centre for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, Technical University of Liberec, Studentská 2, 461 17 Liberec 1, Czech Republic. Electronic address: lukas.dvorak@tul.cz.
authors.forename: Lukáš
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dvořák
authors.affiliation: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Grenzacherstrasse 124, CH-4070 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: martin.studer.ms1@roche.com.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Studer
authors.affiliation: F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Grenzacherstrasse 124, CH-4070 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: juerg.straub@roche.com.
authors.forename: Jürg Oliver
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Straub
authors.affiliation: ProRheno AG, Grenzstrasse 15, CH-4057 Basel, Switzerland. Electronic address: heinz.froemelt@prorheno.ch.
authors.forename: Heinz
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Frömelt
authors.affiliation: Institute for Ecopreneurship, School of Life Sciences, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Gründenstrasse 40, CH-4132 Muttenz, Switzerland. Electronic address: thomas.wintgens@fhnw.ch.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wintgens
mesh_terms: D000693:Anaerobiosis; D056804:Biofuels; D057919:Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis; D019149:Bioreactors; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D004345:Drug Industry; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012997:Solvents / Q000378:metabolism; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D062065:Wastewater / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002244:Carbon; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012997:Solvents; D062065:Wastewater
keywords: Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR); Biogas; COD removal; Fouling; Inhibition of methanogens; Pharmaceutical wastewater