• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.175-189
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• 2013

A membrane bioreactor (MBR) with sludge retention time (SRT) of 300 days was maintained for over 2 years. Polypropylene microfiltration (MF) membrane with pore size of 0.2 ${\mu}m$ was used in the MBR system. The fouling behaviors of various sludge fractions from the MBR were studied and sub-divided resistances were analyzed. It was observed that $R_{cp}$ was a dominant resistance during the filtration of activated sludge, contributing 63.0% and 59.6% to the total resistance for MBR and sequential batch reactor (SBR) respectively. On the other hand, $R_c$ played the significant role during the filtration of supernatant and solutes, varying between 54.54% and 67.18%. Compared with $R_{cp}$ and $R_c$, $R_{if}$ was negligible, and $R_m$ values remained constant at $0.20{\times}10^{12}m^{-1}$. Furthermore, resistances of all sludge fractions increased linearly with rising mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration and growing trans-membrane pressure (TMP), while the relationship was inversed between fraction resistances and cross flow velocity (CFV). Among all fractions of activated sludge, suspended solid was the main contributor to the total resistance. A compact cake layer was clearly observed according to the field emission scanning electro microscopy (FE-SEM) images.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 2003

This study was focused on the investigation of filtration characteristics of membrane-coupled fermentor system for dissolved organics recovery from liquid organic sludge. On the filterability of MF over the range of $0.1{\sim}5 {\mu}m,$ the magnitude of total membrane resistance ($R_t$) is ranged as follows in the order; $0.1 {\mu}m>0.2{\mu}m>0.5 >1{\mu}m>2{\mu}m>5{\mu}m$. The cake layer resistance ($R_c$) occupied about 68~88% of total resistance with fermented sludge. Permeation flux decline was mainly attributed to the $R_c$, which was formed by a strong deposition from physico-chemical interactions of solids on membrane surface. Higher suspended solids (SS) concentration of suspension caused lower permeation flux. However, there was not a proportion relation beyond a certain SS concentration. The cross-flow velocity on the membrane surface was faster, which resulted in the higher permeation flux and also more efficient with low trans membrane pressure (TMP) in viewpoint of energy efficiency. The appropriate pH of suspension was over the range of 5.0~6.0 for dissolved organics recovery as well as the permeation flux. It is possible f3r bacteria to be separated perfectly with $0.1{\mu}m\; and \;0.2{\mu}m$ membrane pore size. Based on experimental results, most appropriate membrane pore size for the recovery is believed to around $1{\mu}m$.