Combining submerged membrane technology with anaerobic and ...
Combining submerged membrane technology with anaerobic and ...
Combining submerged membrane technology with anaerobic and ...
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Objectives <strong>and</strong> summaryOn the basis of all the aforementioned, in the present thesis applicability of<strong>submerged</strong> <strong>membrane</strong> <strong>technology</strong> to different <strong>anaerobic</strong> <strong>and</strong> aerobic systems, for thetreatment of municipal <strong>and</strong> industrial wastewaters, was studied. The use of <strong>submerged</strong><strong>membrane</strong>s for the tertiary treatment of different secondary effluents from sequential batchreactors <strong>with</strong> granular <strong>and</strong> flocculent biomasses was studied in Chapter 3. Later, thecombination of an MBR <strong>with</strong> an <strong>anaerobic</strong> UASB reactor into one single integrated systemor as a post-treatment of the <strong>anaerobic</strong>ally treated effluent was investigated (Chapter 4),paying special attention to the possible causes responsible for <strong>membrane</strong> fouling (Chapter5) <strong>and</strong> to the feasibility of nitrogen removal by using the dissolved methane present in the<strong>anaerobic</strong> effluent as carbon source for denitrification (Chapter 6). Finally, the operation ofan AnMBR <strong>with</strong> high biomass concentration for the treatment of industrial herbal extractionwastewater was studied, paying special attention to <strong>membrane</strong> fouling <strong>and</strong> to its possibleminimization through the addition of powdered activated carbon (PAC) (Chapter 7).The main content of each chapter of the present thesis will be detailed in thefollowing sections.In Chapter 1 an actualized literature review about the studies performed up to date inthe field of <strong>submerged</strong> <strong>membrane</strong>s <strong>and</strong> its combination <strong>with</strong> different wastewater treatmentsystems is presented. Information regarding <strong>membrane</strong> types <strong>and</strong> configurationscommonly used in wastewater treatment applications as well as its introduction <strong>and</strong> currentstatus in the market is also presented. In addition, special attention is paid to theknowledge of the <strong>membrane</strong> fouling phenomena, its causes, possible indicators <strong>and</strong>strategies for its minimization.In Chapter 2, the material <strong>and</strong> methods used during the different experimentsperformed along most of the experimental chapters are described.In Chapter 3, effluents from a flocculent biomass SBR (F-SBR) <strong>and</strong> a granularbiomass SBR (G-SBR) were treated in tertiary <strong>membrane</strong> filtration chambers to removesuspended solids. Overall COD removal efficiencies were normally above 85% in both ofsystems. Since the tertiary filtration chambers were continuously aerated to reduce<strong>membrane</strong> fouling <strong>and</strong> to provide oxygen to the washed-out biomass, these chambersacted as a biological polishing stage <strong>and</strong> caused variations in the COD <strong>and</strong> nitrogenconcentrations. In this sense, the tertiary <strong>membrane</strong> modules were operated <strong>with</strong> highbiomass concentrations (between 0.3-6.8 g·L -1 ), compared <strong>with</strong> typical values reported fortertiary <strong>membrane</strong> filtration, as a result of the operating strategies of the filtration systems.The performances of the operating systems were compared to determine the influence of23
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