Evaluating the membrane fouling control ability of a reciprocation membrane bioreactor (rMBR) system

P.T. Nguyen¹, B.T. Dang², H.D. Pham¹, Q.T. Huynh¹, X.D. Nguyen¹, H.H. Nguyen¹, K.J. Lee³, X.T. Bui^1*

¹University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city

²Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan

³KOLON Industries, INC.       

Received 14 October 2019; accepted 26 December 2019

 

Abstract:

Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are being increasingly applied to many full-scale plants around the world to treat both municipal and industrial wastewater. However, membrane fouling and energy consumption are significant challenges to broader applications of MBRs. By using a new MBR configuration, this research aims to compare the performance between a conventional MBR and a reciprocation MBR (rMBR) that uses inertial forces without air scouring for fouling reduction. The results show that there was no difference in chemical oxygen demand (COD) (92-98%) or total nitrogen (TN) (71-77%) after 280 d of operation under the same influent constraints. However, by using the inertial force, the fouling rates were 0.35 mbar/d for the rMBR, resulting in a significantly lower fouling rate in comparison with a conventional MBR and other literature reports. Thus, the lower energy consumption over long-term operation of a rMBR could be a promising solution to overcome the drawbacks of a MBR.

Keywords: energy consumption, fouling, reciprocation membrane bioreactor.

Classification number: 3.5