Research Progress in Biofilm-Membrane Bioreactor: A Critical Review

The Advancement in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Technology toward Sustainable Industrial Wastewater Management

The advancement in water treatment technology has revolutionized the progress of membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology in the modern era. The large space requirement, low efficiency, and high cost of the traditional activated sludge process have given the necessary space for the MBR system to come into action. The conventional activated sludge (CAS) process and tertiary filtration can be replaced by immersed and side-stream MBR. This article outlines the historical advancement of the MBR process in the treatment of industrial and municipal wastewaters. The structural features and design parameters of MBR, e.g., membrane surface properties, permeate flux, retention time, pH, alkalinity, temperature, cleaning frequency, etc., highly influence the efficiency of the MBR process. The submerged MBR can handle lower permeate flux (requires less power), whereas the side-stream MBR can handle higher permeate flux (requires more power). However, MBR has some operational issues with conventional water treatment technologies. The quality of sludge, equipment requirements, and fouling are major drawbacks of the MBR process. This review paper also deals with the approach to address these constraints. However, given the energy limitations, climatic changes, and resource depletion, conventional wastewater treatment systems face significant obstacles. When compared with CAS, MBR has better permeate quality, simpler operational management, and a reduced footprint requirement. Thus, for sustainable water treatment, MBR can be an efficient tool.

Exploring the Function of Quorum Sensing Regulated Biofilms in Biological Wastewater Treatment: A Review

Quorum sensing (QS), a type of bacterial cell–cell communication, produces autoinducers which help in biofilm formation in response to cell population density. In this review, biofilm formation, the role of QS in biofilm formation and development with reference to biological wastewater treatment are discussed. Autoinducers, for example, acyl-homoserine lactones (AHLs), auto-inducing oligo-peptides (AIPs) and autoinducer 2, present in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, with their mechanism, are also explained. Over the years, wastewater treatment (WWT) by QS-regulated biofilms and their optimization for WWT have gained much attention. This article gives a comprehensive review of QS regulation methods, QS enrichment methods and QS inhibition methods in biological waste treatment systems. Typical QS enrichment methods comprise adding QS molecules, adding QS accelerants and cultivating QS bacteria, while typical QS inhibition methods consist of additions of quorum quenching (QQ) bacteria, QS-degrading enzymes, QS-degrading oxidants, and QS inhibitors. Potential applications of QS regulated biofilms for WWT have also been summarized. At last, the knowledge gaps present in current researches are analyzed, and future study requirements are proposed.

Pilot Scale Application of a Ceramic Membrane Bioreactor for Treating High-Salinity Oil Production Wastewater

The offshore oil extraction process generates copious amounts of high-salinity oil-bearing wastewater; at present, treating such wastewater in an efficient and low-consumption manner is a major challenge. In this study, a flat ceramic membrane bioreactor (C−MBR) process combining aerobic microbial treatment technology and ceramic membrane filtration technology was used to treat oil-bearing wastewater. The pilot test results demonstrated the remarkable performance of the combined sequential batch reactor (SBR) and C-MBR process, wherein the chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia nitrogen (NH₄⁺−N) removal rates reached 93% and 98.9%, respectively. Microbial analysis indicated that the symbiosis between Marinobacterium, Marinobacter, and Nitrosomonas might have contributed to simultaneously removing NH₄⁺−N and reducing COD, and the increased enrichment of Nitrosomonas significantly improved the nitrogen removal efficiency. Cleaning ceramic membranes with NaClO solution reduces membrane contamination and membrane cleaning frequency. The combined SBR and C−MBR process is an economical and feasible solution for treating high-salinity oil-bearing wastewater. Based on the pilot application study, the capital expenditure for operating the full-scale combined SBR and C−MBR process was estimated to be 251,717 USD/year, and the unit wastewater treatment cost was 0.21 USD/m³, which saved 62.5% of the energy cost compared to the conventional MBR process.

Recent advances in attached growth membrane bioreactor systems for wastewater treatment

To tackle membrane fouling and limited removals of pollutants (nutrients and emerging pollutants) that hinder the wide applications of membrane bioreactor (MBR), attached growth MBR (AGMBR) combining MBR and attached growth process has been developed. This review comprehensively presents the up-to-date developments of media used in both aerobic and anaerobic AGMBRs for treating wastewaters containing conventional and emerging pollutants. It also elaborates the properties of different media, characteristics of attached biomass, and their contributions to AGMBR performance. Conventional media, such as biological activated carbon and polymeric carriers, induce formation of aerobic, anoxic and/or anaerobic microenvironment, increase specific surface area or porous space for biomass retention, improve microbial activities, and enrich diverse microorganisms, thereby enhancing pollutants removal. Meanwhile, new media (i.e. biochar, bioaugmented carriers with selected strain/mixed cultures) do not only eliminate conventional pollutants (i.e. high concentration of nitrogen, etc.), but also effectively remove emerging pollutants (i.e. micropollutants, nonylphenol, adsorbable organic halogens, etc.) by forming thick and dense biofilm, creating anoxic/anaerobic microenvironments inside the media, enriching special functional microorganisms and increasing activity of microorganisms. Additionally, media can improve sludge characteristics (i.e. less extracellular polymeric substances and soluble microbial products, larger floc size, better sludge settleability, etc.), alleviating membrane fouling. Future studies need to focus on the development and applications of more new functional media in removing wider spectrum of emerging pollutants and enhancing biogas generation, as well as scale-up of lab-scale AGMBRs to pilot or full-scale AGMBRs.

Efficient removal of organic compounds from shale gas wastewater by coupled ozonation and moving-bed-biofilm submerged membrane bioreactor

Shale gas wastewater (SGW) with complex composition and high salinity needs an economical and efficient method of treatment with the main goal to remove organics. In this study, a coupled system consisting of ozonation and moving-bed-biofilm submerged membrane bioreactor (MBBF-SMBR) was comprehensively evaluated for SGW treatment and compared with a similar train comprising ozonation and submerged membrane bioreactor (SMBR) without addition of carriers attaching biofilm. The average removal rates of MBBF-SMBR were 77.8% for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 37.0% for total nitrogen (TN), higher than those observed in SMBR, namely, 73.9% for DOC and 18.6% for TN. The final total membrane resistance in SMBR was 40.1% higher than that in MBBF-SMBR. Some genera that specifically contribute to organic removal were identified. Enhanced gene allocation for membrane transport and nitrogen metabolism was found in MBBF-SMBR biofilm, implying that this system has significant industrial application potential for organics removal from SGW.

Comparing the performance of the conventional and fixed-bed membrane bioreactors for treating municipal wastewater

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is relatively a new technology in wastewater treatment. It can efficiently remove soluble and suspended organics. However, it may constantly encounter bio-fouling and cannot efficiently remove nutrient pollutants. These two deficiencies have motivated researchers to upgrade the design and operation of conventional MBR (CMBR). This study evaluates the performance of hybrid fixed bed MBR (FBMBR) treating real domestic wastewater in different operational conditions. It also compares the experimental results of FBMBR with the CMBR. For this purpose, two identical reactors are constructed as CMBR and FBMBR. Each module contains the net volume of 140 L and is operated continuously in two aerobic (DO > 4 mg/L) and anoxic (DO < 1 mg/L) conditions with average organic loading rates (OLRs) of 0.58, 0.71 and 1.55 kgCOD/m³d. The pore sizes of flat sheet membranes are 0.2-0.8 μm with total surface area of 1.4m² per module. The experimental results revealed that the removal efficiencies of BOD, COD and TSS are above 95 % in both CMBR and FBMBR in all operating conditions. However, fouling occurs with lower rates in FBMBR. The growing rate of transmembrane pressure (TMP) in aerobic condition is 1.7mBar/day in CMBR, while it reduces to 1.2mBar/day for FBMBR in solid retention time (SRT) of 75 days and OLR of 0.58 and 0.71 kgCOD/m³d. In anoxic condition with SRT of 100 days and OLR of 1.55 kgCOD/m³d, the TMP in FBMBR is 59 % of CMBR. In addition, total nitrogen (TN) removal is between 12 % (aerobic) and 27 % (anoxic) in CMBR, while it is between 25 % (aerobic) and 49 % (anoxic) in FBMBR. Total phosphorous (TP) removal also ranges between 50 and 66 % in CMBR, while it is between 51 and 86 % in FBMBR. Consequently, using hybrid systems of FBMBR can reduce membrane fouling rate and improve nutrient removal efficiency in comparison with CMBR. This approach can reinforce the biological treatment efficiency and preserve permeate quality in higher OLRs or in lower DO level.

Chemical Enhancement for Retrofitting Moving Bed Biofilm and Integrated Fixed Film Activated Sludge Systems into Membrane Bioreactors

Positive effects of retrofitting MBBR and IFAS systems into MBRs can be exploited by introducing chemical enhancement applying coagulants in the membrane separation step. The current study reports basic principles of chemical enhancement with aluminium sulphate coagulant in biofilm-MBR (Bf-MBR) based on results of total recycle tests performed at different dosages of the chemical enhancer and properties characterization of filtrates, supernatants and sediments. It demonstrates a possibility to achieve lower membrane fouling rates with dosing of aluminium sulphate coagulant into MBBR and IFAS mixed liquors by extending operational cycles by 20 and 80 time respectively as well as increasing operating permeability of membrane separation by 1.3 times for IFAS. It has been found that charge neutralization is the dominating mechanism of aluminium sulphate action as a chemical enhancer in Bf-MBR, however, properties of the membrane surface influencing charge repulsion of foulants should be considered together with the secondary ability of the coagulant to improve consolidation of sediments.

Kinetics simulation of Cu and Cd removal and the microbial community adaptation in a periphytic biofilm reactor

Periphytic biofilm reactor (PBfR) shows great potential in pollutants removal. However, few studies were focused on mathematical model of pollutants removal in PBfR. A three-step PBfR was designed and a new model was developed to simulate the kinetics of Cu and Cd removal from simulated wastewater. The results show that the PBfR could remove 99.0% Cu and 99.7% Cd from liquid wastewater. The experiment data could be well fitted with a high correlation coefficients both for Cu and Cd. The microbial community in the PBfR could be self-adjusted to tolerate the toxicities of Cu and Cd, resulting in sustainable and high decontamination efficiencies. The eukaryote in the PBfR played a vital role in Cu and Cd removal. The prokaryote showed negative effect on Cu and Cd removal, though it had more diversity than eukaryote. This study provides a new approach for Cu and Cd removal and their kinetics simulation in photoautotrophic bioreactor.

Using nano-attapulgite clay compounded hydrophilic urethane foams (AT/HUFs) as biofilm support enhances oil-refinery wastewater treatment in a biofilm membrane bioreactor

Petroleum refinery wastewater (PRW) treatments based on biofilm membrane bioreactor (BF-MBR) technology is an ideal approach and biofilm supporting material is a critical factor. In this study, BF-MBR with nano-attapulgite clay compounded hydrophilic urethane foams (AT/HUFs) as a biofilm support was used to treat PRW with a hydraulic retention time of 5 h. The removal rate of 500 mg/L chemical oxygen demand (COD), 15 mg/L NH₄⁺ and 180 NTU of turbidity were 99.73%, 97.48% and 99.99%, which were 23%, 20%, and 6% higher than in the control bioreactor, respectively. These results were comparatively higher than that observed for the sequencing batch reactor (SBR). The death rate of the Spirodela polyrrhiza (L.) irrigated with BF-MBR-treated water was 4.44%, which was similar to that of the plants irrigated with tap water (3.33%) and SBR-treated water (5.56%), but significantly lower than that irrigated with raw water (84.44%). The counts demonstrated by qPCR for total bacteria, denitrifiers, nitrite oxidizing bacteria, ammonia oxidizing bacteria, and ammonia-oxidizing archaea were also higher in BF-MBR than those obtained by SBR. Moreover, the results of 16 s rRNA sequencing have demonstrated that the wastewater remediation microbes were enriched in AT/HUFs, e.g., Acidovorax can degrade polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and Sulfuritalea is an efficient nitrite degrader. In summary, BF-MBR using AT/HUF as a biofilm support improves microbiome of the actived sludge and is reliable for oil-refinery wastewater treatment.

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors for antibiotic wastewater treatment: Performance and membrane fouling issues

Antibiotic wastewater has become a major concern due to the toxicity and recalcitrance of antibiotics. Anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) are considered alternative technology for treating antibiotic wastewater because of their advantages over the conventional anaerobic processes and aerobic MBRs. However, membrane fouling remains the most challenging issue in the AnMBRs' operation and this limits their application. This review critically discusses: (i) antibiotics removal and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in different types of AnMBRs and the impact of antibiotics on membrane fouling and (ii) the integrated AnMBRs systems for fouling control and removal of antibiotics. The presence of antibiotics in AnMBRs could aggravate membrane fouling by influencing fouling-related factors (i.e., sludge particle size, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), soluble microbial products (SMP), and fouling-related microbial communities). Conclusively, integrated AnMBR systems can be a practical technology for antibiotic wastewater treatment.