Abstract
In this study, the impact of membrane incorporation for effluent extraction on the performance of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor treating municipal wastewater was investigated in terms of system performance and sludge characteristics. A laboratory-scale system was operated in two different operational stages: (i) as a sole UASB reactor and (ii) as an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). Membrane incorporation induced an accumulation of fine particles and a decrease in extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), resulting in a decrease in particle size distribution (PSD) and, thus, a drop in sludge settleability. Deterioration of sludge settleability led to an increase in sludge washout, with a resultant increase in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) in the UASB effluent. However, suspended solids-free permeate with an average COD of 42. mg/L was obtained and despite the sludge bed deterioration, the average transmembrane pressure (TMP) value was 85. mbar indicating no severe membrane fouling. Pyrosequencing analysis demonstrated the increase in microbial community indexes of the UASB sludge after membrane addition, exhibiting an increase in both richness and evenness. Considering all responses of the UASB reactor to membrane incorporation, the overall results put UASB reactor forward as a suitable alternative for coupling membranes in AnMBRs.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 95-104 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Membrane Science |
Volume | 479 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2015 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2014 Elsevier B.V.
Funding
The authors would like to express their gratitude for the PhD Fellowship awards provided by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA) to Hale Ozgun, by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness to Juan B. Gimenez, by HUYGENS Scholarship Program to M. Evren Ersahin and by the China Scholarship Council to Yu Tao. This publication is produced as part of the A-Racer project, with Pentair, Saxion, TU Delft, Water Board Regge & Dinkel as partners. The project (IWA10007) is partly funded by the Dutch Government via AgentschapNL under the InnoWator program.
Funders | Funder number |
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AgentschapNL | |
Dutch Government | |
HUYGENS | |
TUBA | |
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad | |
Türkiye Bilimler Akademisi | |
China Scholarship Council | IWA10007 |
Keywords
- Anaerobic membrane bioreactor
- Membrane incorporation
- Microbial community
- Municipal wastewater
- Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor