Impact of simultaneous retention of micropollutants and laccase on micropollutant degradation in enzymatic membrane bioreactor

Muhammad B Asif; Faisal I Hai; Bipro R Dhar; Huu H Ngo; Wenshan Guo; Veeriah Jegatheesan; William E Price; Long D Nghiem; Kazuo Yamamoto

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.07.066

Impact of simultaneous retention of micropollutants and laccase on micropollutant degradation in enzymatic membrane bioreactor

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Nov:267:473-480. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.07.066. Epub 2018 Jul 21.

Authors

Muhammad B Asif¹, Faisal I Hai², Bipro R Dhar³, Huu H Ngo⁴, Wenshan Guo⁴, Veeriah Jegatheesan⁵, William E Price⁶, Long D Nghiem⁷, Kazuo Yamamoto⁸

Affiliations

¹ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
² Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia. Electronic address: faisal@uow.edu.au.
³ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Mining & Petroleum Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada.
⁴ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁵ School of Engineering, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia.
⁶ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
⁷ Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia; Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
⁸ Environmental Science Centre, Department of Urban Engineering, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.

PMID: 30036848
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.07.066

Abstract

This study systematically compares the performance of ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) based enzymatic membrane bioreactors (EMBRs) for the degradation of five micropollutants, namely atrazine, carbamazepine, sulfamethoxazole, diclofenac and oxybenzone to elucidate the impact of effective membrane retention of micropollutants on their degradation. Based on the permeate quality, NF-EMBR achieved 92-99.9% micropollutant removal (i.e., biodegradation + membrane retention), while the removal of these micropollutants by UF-EMBR varied from 20 to 85%. Mass balance analysis revealed that micropollutant degradation was improved by 15-30% in NF-EMBR as compared to UF-EMBR, which could be attributed to the prolonged contact time between laccase and micropollutants following their effective retention by the NF membrane. A small decline in permeate flux was observed during EMBR operation. However, the flux could be recovered by flushing the membrane with permeate.

Keywords: Enzymatic membrane bioreactor Laccase-catalyzed degradation; High retention membrane; Micropollutants; Nanofiltration membrane; Ultrafiltration membrane.

MeSH terms

Biodegradation, Environmental
Bioreactors*
Laccase / metabolism*
Membranes, Artificial
Ultrafiltration
Water Pollutants, Chemical / metabolism*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Laccase