Performance of a novel baffled osmotic membrane bioreactor-microfiltration hybrid system under continuous operation for simultaneous nutrient removal and mitigation of brine discharge.
The present study investigated the performance of an integrated osmotic and microfiltration membrane bioreactor system for wastewater treatment employing baffles in the reactor. Thus, this reactor design enables both aerobic and anoxic processes in an attempt to reduce the process footprint and energy costs associated with continuous aeration. The process performance was evaluated in terms of water flux, salinity build up in the bioreactor, organic and nutrient removal and microbial activity using synthetic reverse osmosis (RO) brine as draw solution (DS). The incorporation of MF membrane was effective in maintaining a reasonable salinity level (612-1434mg/L) in the reactor which resulted in a much lower flux decline (i.e. 11.48-6.98LMH) as compared to previous studies. The stable operation of the osmotic membrane bioreactor-forward osmosis (OMBR-FO) process resulted in an effective removal of both organic matter (97.84%) and nutrient (phosphate 87.36% and total nitrogen 94.28%), respectively.
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
Nirenkumar
N
Pathak
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
Laura
L
Chekli
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia; College of Environmental Science and Engineering, State Environmental Protection Engineering Center for Pollution Treatment and Control in Textile Industry, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
Jin
J
Wang
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia; School of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, 1-5 Ga, Anam-Dong, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul 136-713, Republic of Korea.
Youngjin
Y
Kim
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
Sherub
S
Phuntsho
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), Division of Biological & Environmental Science & Engineering (BESE), 4700, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
Sheng
S
Li
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), Division of Biological & Environmental Science & Engineering (BESE), 4700, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
Noreddine
N
Ghaffour
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC), Division of Biological & Environmental Science & Engineering (BESE), 4700, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.
TorOve
T
Leiknes
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney, Post Box 129, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Hokyong.Shon-1@uts.edu.au.
Hokyong
H
Shon
D019149:Bioreactors; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D009995:Osmosis; D012492:Salts; D018508:Water Purification
D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D012492:Salts; C017082:brine
Biomass activity; Microfiltration (MF); OMBR; Salinity build-up; Simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SND)