Abstract
This study evaluated the effects of the electrocoagulation on membrane fouling and treatment performance in a membrane bioreactor operated with prolonged solids retention time. The membrane bioreactor was fed with synthetic wastewater, and its operation was conducted at three different experimental runs. Initially, the reactor was operated without electric current application (run 1), named as control period, and subsequently using electric current density of 5 A m−2 (run 2) and 15 A m−2 (run 3). Hence, the reactor performance was evaluated for the impact of electrocoagulation on fouling mitigation and pollutant removal (chemical oxygen demand, phosphorus and ammonium) as well as for the use of two different current densities. The results showed that the use of the lower current density (run 2) was able to significantly improve the membrane bioreactor performance on organic matter and phosphorus removal, showing average efficiencies of 95 and 99%, respectively. Particularly for ammonium removal, the membrane bioreactor exhibited a gradual increase from run 1 to 3, attaining the highest ammonium removal efficiency (86%) during run 3. Compared to run 1 and 3, the use of 5 A m−2 resulted in a better mixed liquor filterability conditions and consequently in a lower membrane fouling rate (0.107 bar d−1). Therefore, the integration of electrocoagulation with the membrane bioreactor technology proved to be an interesting alternative to improve the treatment performance and attenuate the fouling process, even operating the reactor without sludge discharge.
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Abbreviations
- AMO:
-
Ammonia monooxygenase
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- COD:
-
Chemical oxygen demand
- ECD:
-
Electric current density
- DO:
-
Dissolved oxygen
- EMBR:
-
Membrane electro-bioreactor
- EPS:
-
Extracellular polymer substances
- EPSp/EPSc:
-
Proteins-to-carbohydrate ratio in EPS
- F/M:
-
Food to microorganism ratio
- HAO:
-
Hydroxylamine oxidoreductase
- HRT:
-
Hydraulic retention time
- J :
-
Permeate flux
- MBR:
-
Membrane bioreactor
- MFR:
-
Membrane fouling rate
- MLFSS:
-
Mixed liquor fixed suspended solids
- MLSS:
-
Mixed liquor suspended solids
- MLVSS:
-
Mixed liquor volatile suspended solids
- NLR:
-
Nitrogen loading rate
- NOR:
-
Nitrite oxidoreductase
- OLR:
-
Organic loading rate
- OUR:
-
Oxygen uptake rate
- PEI:
-
Polyetherimide
- P x :
-
Waste sludge produced per day
- Q :
-
Flow rate
- SAD:
-
Specific aeration demand per membrane surface
- SMP:
-
Soluble microbial products
- SMPp/SMPc:
-
Proteins-to-carbohydrate ratio in SMP
- SOUR:
-
Specific oxygen uptake rate
- SRT:
-
Solid retention time
- TMP:
-
Transmembrane pressure
- TP:
-
Total phosphorus
- Y obs :
-
Observed cell yield
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The authors would like to acknowledge the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement (CAPES) (finance code 001) for the financial support.
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Manica, M., Battistelli, A.A., Belli, T.J. et al. Effects of electrocoagulation on membrane fouling and treatment performance of a membrane bioreactor operated without sludge discharge. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 18, 1695–1708 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02953-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-020-02953-0