Pretreatment and filterability tests of wastewater as a first step to characterize the influent to a membrane bioreactor

Wastewater reclamation and reuse has become one of the most important environmental issues nowadays. Thus, municipal wastewater treatment plants are being upgraded converting conventional activated sludge processes into membrane bioreactors in order to improve the quality of the treated wastewater....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Desalination and water treatment 2012-02, Vol.39 (1-3), p.158-165
Main Authors: VECES-GADEA, Beatriz, MENDOZA-ROCA, José-Antonio, BES-PIA, Amparo, FERRER-TORREGROSA, Carlos, MARTINEZ-FRANCISCO, Francisco-Juan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Activated sludge
Applied sciences
Biological activity
Bioreactors
Effluents
Energy
Energy consumption
Exact sciences and technology
Filterability
Filtered wastewater
Fouling
Influents
Mathematical models
Membrane filtration
Membrane processes
Membrane resistance
Membranes
Municipal wastewater
Operating costs
Plants (organisms)
Pollution
Pretreatment
Pretreatment of water
Reclamation
Sludge
Statistical analysis
Statistical correlation
Statistical methods
Suspended particulate matter
Suspended solids
Ultrafiltration
Waste water
Wastewater
Wastewater composition
Wastewater renovation
Wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment plants
Water reclamation
Water treatment and pollution
Water treatment plants
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Summary:Wastewater reclamation and reuse has become one of the most important environmental issues nowadays. Thus, municipal wastewater treatment plants are being upgraded converting conventional activated sludge processes into membrane bioreactors in order to improve the quality of the treated wastewater. However, operational costs increase because of higher energy consumption and membrane fouling. Wastewater composition is one of the factors affecting membrane fouling, though its influence is difficult to describe. In this work, a study about wastewater pretreatment and filterability has been carried out in view of achieving valuable information for a further implementation of a membrane bioreactor. Experiments were performed with samples of four municipal wastewater treatment plants taken from the plant influent, the biological process influent and the plant effluent. Fiterability was evaluated by membrane filtration resistances using the resistance in series model. Resistances were measured with ultrafiltration tests performed with flat membranes. Results showed that suspended solids concentration was the most influential parameter on the total membrane resistance when pretreated wastewater is filtered. No statistical correlation between the membrane resistances of biological process influent and plant effluent was found.
ISSN:1944-3994
1944-3986
DOI:10.1080/19443994.2012.669170