• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
• /
• v.39 no.2
• /
• pp.175-180
• /
• 2023

The aim of this study was to compare the fouling characteristics of Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) secreted by Chlorella vulgaris with the case of Bacterial-MBR (BMBR), Microalgal-MBR (MMBR) for advanced wastewater treatment using the Laboratory scale, in order to suggest a method to minimize fouling in MMBR by identifying the effects of amounts and compositions of EPS secreted by C. vulgaris and bacteria in the activated sludge on fouling. Contrary to expectations, fouling occurred relatively severely in the MMBR from the beginning of the operation than in the BMBR. Reasons for such a fouling pattern were considered to be the effect of C-EPS, which accumulates on the membrane surface of MMBR 30 times more than that on the membrane surface of activated sludge (BMBR). In this respect, according to the results of this experiment and a comparative review of several previous studies, it was confirmed that unlike activated sludge, in which the ratio of P-EPS was relatively higher than that of C-EPS, in case of C. vulgaris, the ratio of C-EPS to P-EPS was relatively higher than that in case of activated sludge. This was presumed to be the main cause of the significant fouling phenomenon in MMBR. However, an increase in TMP with increasing C-EPS concentration was not observed.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
• /
• v.10 no.5
• /
• pp.331-338
• /
• 2019

This study aimed to investigate the membrane fouling and sludge characteristics in a pilot-scale submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) operated under low temperature ($7^{\circ}C$). To elucidate the mechanisms of membrane fouling at low temperature, we studied the correlation between MBR performances and physicochemical properties of sludge including extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), relative hydrophobicity (RH) and floc size during long-term operation. The MBR was shown able to remove chemical oxygen demand (COD) stably and efficiently (>90 %) in the case of overgrowth of filamentous bacteria (bulking sludge) at low temperature. On the other hand, the occurrence of filamentous bulking greatly accelerated membrane fouling, as indicated by membrane filtration period of 14 days for filamentous bulking at $7^{\circ}C$, in comparison with that of 27 days for non-bulking sludge at $24^{\circ}C$ The overgrowth of filamentous bacteria resulting from low-temperature condition led to an increased release of EPS, higher RH, smaller floc size and lower fractal dimension of sludge. These factors accelerated the formation of compact cake layer on membrane surface in association with performance diminution in terms of increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP) of the membrane and thus the decrease in membrane permeability.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.22 no.8
• /
• pp.1035-1043
• /
• 2012

The ammonia-oxidizing bacterial (AOB) communities in three membrane bioreactors (MBRs) were monitored for 2 months after an acclimation period in order to investigate the influence of sludge age and medium type on AOB changeability and its connection with nitrification effectiveness. One MBR with a sludge age of 4 days was fed with a synthetic medium, whereas the other two with sludge ages of 8 and 32 days were fed with landfill leachate. The research revealed that landfill leachate can be effectively treated in an MBR with a higher sludge age for longer periods of time and that this improvement in performance was correlated with an increase in AOB biodiversity. Interestingly, the medium type has a stronger influence on AOB biocenosis formation than the sludge age.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.407-414
• /
• 2013

Full scale livestock wastewater treatment plant (100 t/d) was constructed and operated to develop compact and cost effective treatment process for public plant as well as individual farm. Liquid form of livestock wastewater after belt press filter was treated through MBR/NF/RO. NF/RO brine water was mixed with livestock wastewater sludge and treated using denitrification, coagulation and air flotation process. Mixed effluent of NF/RO and air flotation meet public livestock wastewater treatment standard, BOD, T-N and T-P, 30 mg/L, 60 mg/L, 8 mg/L below, respectively. Condensed sludge of air flotation returned belt press filter. Dewatered cake contained 90% water and could be used fertilizer after mixing sawdust.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.289-296
• /
• 2005

In the MBR process, the membrane fouling occurs seriously on the membrane surface. In general, the membrane fouling is attributed to factors such as deposition or adhesion of sludge floc. The occurrence of fouling is a main cause of a decrease in membrane module fluk. At this study, our MBR membrane is manufactured by nano-particle with excellent anti-fouling character. The fine nano-material which can repel the sludge Hoc from the membrane surface is distributed in the membrane surface. We confirm anti-fouling effect, test continuously in the pilot site.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.447-459
• /
• 2010

Bacterial diversity of two distinct wastewater treatment systems, conventional activated sludge (CAS) and membrane bioreactor (MBR), of petroleum refineries were investigated through 16S rRNA gene libraries. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis showed that the bacterial community composition of sludge samples was distinct between the two wastewater treatment systems. MBR clones belonged predominantly to Class Betaproteobacteria, represented mainly by genera Thiobacillus and Thauera, whereas CAS clones were mostly related to Class Alphaproteobacteria, represented by uncultured bacteria related to Order Parvularculales. Richness estimators ACE and Chao revealed that the diversity observed in both libraries at the species level is an underestimate of the total bacterial diversity present in the environment and further sampling would yield an increased observed diversity. Shannon and Simpson diversity indices were different between the libraries and revealed greater bacterial diversity for the MBR library, considering an evolutionary distance of 0.03. LIBSHUFF analyses revealed that MBR and CAS communities were significantly different at the 95% confidence level ($P{\leq}0.05$) for distances $0{\leq}D{\leq}0.20$. This work described, qualitatively and quantitatively, the structure of bacterial communities in industrial-scale MBR and CAS processes of the wastewater treatment system from petroleum refineries and demonstrated clearly differentiated communities responsible for the stable performance of wastewater treatment plants.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.17 no.5
• /
• pp.521-526
• /
• 2006

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) is an effective tool for wastewater treatment with recycling. MBR process has several advantages over conventional activated sludge process (ASP); reliability, compactness, and quality of treated water. The resulting high-quality and disinfected effluents suggest that MBR process can be suitable for the reused and recycling of wastewater. An anoxic/oxic (A/O) type MBR was applied to simultaneous removal of organics and nutrients in sewage. At first, the efficiency of submerged MBR process was investigated using a hollow fiber microfiltration membrane with a constant flux of $10.2L/m^2{\cdot}h$ at each solids retention time (SRT). Results showed that protein/carbohydrate (P/C) ratio increased and total extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) remained constant with SRT increased. Secondly, A/O type MBR with a reverse osmosis (RO) membrane was employed to treat the municipal wastewater. The performance of A/O type MBR-RO process is better for the treatment of organics and nutrients than ASP-MF-RO process in terms of consistent effluents quality.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.41-49
• /
• 2011

The diffuser which is conventionally adapted to MBR, has problem that decreasing the cleaning effect of membrane module by inflexible air supply due to the occlusion of sludge from diffuser hole. To solve this problem, diffuser structure of submerged module should be improved to discharge sludge which is flow into the diffuser for prevent occlusion in the diffuser. In this study, the structure of the diffuser was reformed to open lower part for preclusion the blocking. And the outlet diameter of the diffuser was drawn through the condition for the depth of water and air rate, to prevent air-leak condition of improved diffuser. Moreover, application is evaluated by comparing test with occlusion effect of the conventional and improved diffuser. From the results, air-water boundary changes are steady with changes of water depth and it shows linear relation about air rate. By using this linear numerical formula, the height of diffuser's outlet can be decided. Also, it displays that it can prevent the occlusion effect during the comparing test. Hereafter, if this diffuser is applied to practical MBR process, the occlusion problem of diffuser will be disappeared.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.20 no.9
• /
• pp.1079-1085
• /
• 2011

The purpose of this study is to find the operational characteristics of nitrifier-dominated membrane bioreactor (MBR), which has been extensively studied for organic removal, especially in terms of nitrite ($NO_2$-N) build-up and membrane fouling. Membrane fouling is one of the important factor which determines the economics of MBR system. The characteristics of membrane fouling was monitored in terms of the fouling indices such as sludge volume index (SVI), the concentration of total organic carbon (TOC) and extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) in a membrane permeate or sludge extract, the absorbance of supernatant at 260 nm. Most of index values except for protein concentration in EPS had a close relation with the increase of suction pressure and SVI value. Nitrifying MBR was superior to the conventional organic-oxidizing MBR in terms of membrane fouling since the fouling index value of nitrifying MBR was lower than that of BOD-oxidizing MBR.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.22 no.6
• /
• pp.489-501
• /
• 2012

The nitrogen removal characteristics of the MBR system consisted of two intermittent reactors, a membrane reactor and a deaeration reactor under constant flow and wastewater composition at different operational temperature and SRTs (Sludge Retention Times) were studied by computer simulation. The nitrogen removal efficiencies were dropped from 59% to 31%, when operational temperature was increased to $25^{\circ}C$ from $13^{\circ}C$ with same SRT of 25 days. Lower RBO (Readily Biodegradable Organic) concentrations at intermittent reactors at $25^{\circ}C$ compared with those at $13^{\circ}C$ of operational temperature were believed to be the main cause. The nitrogen removal efficiencies and RBO concentrations at each intermittent reactors were recovered when SRT was reduced to 12.6 days at $25^{\circ}C$. The effect of both SRT and operational temperature on RBO concentrations at intermittent reactors is need to be studied further.