Development of anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactor for low-strength wastewater treatment at mesophilic condition

Microbial electrochemical nutrient recovery in anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactors

This study demonstrates that by incorporating a microbial electrochemical unit into an anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactor (AnOMBR), the system addressed several challenges faced by traditional anaerobic membrane bioreactors and recovered biogas, nitrogen, and phosphorus while maintaining high effluent quality with low dissolved methane. The microbial recovery cell (MRC)-AnOMBR system showed excellent organic (>93%) and phosphorus removal (>99%) and maintained effluent COD below 20 mg/L. Furthermore, the reactor effectively recovered up to 65% PO₄^3- and 45% NH₄⁺ from the influent, which can be further improved if membranes with higher selectivity are used. Nutrients removal from bulk solution mitigated NH₄⁺ penetration to the draw solution and reduced scaling potential caused by PO₄^3-. The maximum methane yield was 0.19 L CH₄/g COD, and low methane (<2.5 mL CH₄/L) was detected in the effluent. Further improvement can be made by increasing charge efficiency for better nutrient and energy recovery.

Integrating microbial fuel cells with anaerobic acidification and forward osmosis membrane for enhancing bio-electricity and water recovery from low-strength wastewater

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and forward osmosis (FO) are two emerging technologies with great potential for energy-efficient wastewater treatment. In this study, anaerobic acidification and FO membrane were simultaneously integrated into an air-cathode MFC (AAFO-MFC) for enhancing bio-electricity and water recovery from low-strength wastewater. During a long-term operation of approximately 40 days, the AAFO-MFC system achieved a continuous and relatively stable power generation, and the maximum power density reached 4.38 W/m³. The higher bio-electricity production in the AAFO-MFC system was mainly due to the accumulation of ethanol resulted from anaerobic acidification process and the rejection of FO membrane. In addition, a proper salinity environment in the system controlled by the addition of MF membrane enhanced the electricity production. Furthermore, the AAFO-MFC system produced a high quality effluent, with the removal rates of organic matters and total phosphorus of more than 97%. However, the nitrogen removal was limited for the lower rejection of FO membrane. The combined biofouling and inorganic fouling were responsible for the lower water flux of FO membrane, and the Desulfuromonas sp. utilized the ethanol for bio-electricity production was observed in the anode. These results substantially improve the prospects for simultaneous wastewater treatment and energy recovery, and further studies are needed to optimize the system integration and operating parameters.

Impacts of inorganic draw solutes on the performance of thin-film composite forward osmosis membrane in a microfiltration assisted anaerobic osmotic membrane bioreactor

A Donnan equilibrium led to a higher NH₄⁺–N concentration and more severe FO biofouling for the draw solutes NaCl and MgCl₂, respectively.

Factors governing the pre-concentration of wastewater using forward osmosis for subsequent resource recovery

This study demonstrated a technique using forward osmosis (FO) to pre-concentrate the organic matter in raw wastewater, thereby transforming low strength wastewater into an anaerobically digestible solution. The chemical oxygen demand (COD) of raw wastewater was concentrated up to approximately eightfold at a water recovery of 90%. Thus, even low strength wastewater could be pre-concentrated by FO to the range suitable for biogas production via anaerobic treatment. Excessive salinity accumulation in pre-concentrated wastewater was successfully mitigated by adopting ionic organic draw solutes, namely, sodium acetate, and EDTA-2Na. These two draw solutes are also expected to benefit the digestibility of the pre-concentrated wastewater compared to the commonly used draw solute sodium chloride. Significant membrane fouling was observed when operating at 90% water recovery using raw wastewater. Nevertheless, membrane fouling was reversible and was effectively controlled by optimising the hydrodynamic conditions of the cross-flow FO system.

Effects of salinity build-up on the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor regarding basic water quality parameters and removal of trace organic contaminants

The effects of elevated inorganic salt concentration on anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) treatment regarding basic biological performance and trace organic contaminant (TrOC) removal were investigated. A set of 33 TrOCs were selected to represent pharmaceuticals, steroids, and pesticides in municipal wastewater. Results show potential adverse effects of increase in the bioreactor salinity to 15g/L (as NaCl) on the performance of AnMBR with respect to chemical oxygen demand removal, biogas production, and the removal of most hydrophilic TrOCs. Furthermore, a decrease in biomass production was observed as salinity in the bioreactor increased. The removal of most hydrophobic TrOCs was high and was not significantly affected by salinity build-up in the bioreactor. The accumulation of a few persistent TrOCs in the sludge phase was observed, but such accumulation did not vary significantly as salinity in the bioreactor increased.

Microbial fuel cells and osmotic membrane bioreactors have mutual benefits for wastewater treatment and energy production

This study demonstrates that microbial fuel cells (MFCs) and osmotic membrane bioreactors (OMBRs) can be mutually beneficial when integrated together for wastewater treatment. When connecting MFCs with OMBRs, the solute buildup increased conductivity and buffer capacity, which greatly increased MFC power density from 3 W/m(3) up to 11.5 W/m(3). In turn, the MFCs conditioned and reduced sludge production and therefore reduced forward osmosis (FO) membrane fouling. The MFC-OMBR equipped with new thin-film composite (TFC) membrane showed excellent organic (>95%) and phosphorus removal (>99%) and therefore maintained effluent sCOD below 20 mg/L. However, the nitrogen removal was limited due to the negative surface charge of the thin-film composite membrane and solution chemistry, which led to higher flux of ammonium toward the OMBR draw solution. Further studies are needed to improve nitrogen removal, reduce fouling, and optimize system integration.