Combining submerged membrane technology with anaerobic and ...

number of plants (cum. values)IntroductionIn Europe and Asia more research in the area of urban wastewater treatment than inindustrial was carried out while in Northamerica the situation was reversed, because inEurope and Asia there was more space restrictions to expand conventional treatmentplants, making membrane technology very attractive for the treatment of wastewater withhigh flow and low organic loads, such as urban (Lesjean et al., 2004).1.3.2. MarketOver the past twenty years, research has been focused mainly to determine thefeasibility of MBR technology, and the search for methods to improve the process. As aresult, MBRs are increasingly becoming the technology of choice for water and wastewaterapplications where the above criteria apply, as is evident by the substantial increase in themembrane bioreactor market over recent years - MBRs are now implemented in more than200 countries and global market growth rates of between 11.5% and 13% are regularlyreported in market analysis reports, the MBR industry market value being estimated asworth $500 million by 2013 (Judd, 2011).In figure 1.6 can be observed the evolution of the MBR implementation in Europeduring the last two decades for the treatment of both industrial and municipal wastewaters.Although some industrial applications were the first niche for MBR technology, theprogressive reduction of operational costs has made this technology competitive formunicipal wastewater treatment during the last decade.600500400Industrial (capacity>20m3/d)Municipal (capacity>100 m3/d)3002001000YearFigure 1.6. Number of MBR in Europe (Huisjes et al., 2009).37