Performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor during digestion and thickening of aerobic membrane bioreactor excess sludge

Akira Hafuka; Kazuhisa Mimura; Qing Ding; Hiroshi Yamamura; Hisashi Satoh; Yoshimasa Watanabe

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.124

Performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor during digestion and thickening of aerobic membrane bioreactor excess sludge

Bioresour Technol. 2016 Oct:218:476-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.124. Epub 2016 Jul 1.

Authors

Akira Hafuka¹, Kazuhisa Mimura², Qing Ding³, Hiroshi Yamamura⁴, Hisashi Satoh⁵, Yoshimasa Watanabe⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Integrated Science and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan. Electronic address: hafuka.14p@g.chuo-u.ac.jp.
² Technical Research & Development Institute, Sanki Engineering Co., Ltd., 1742-7 Shimotsuruma, Yamato-shi, Kanagawa 242-0001, Japan.
³ Division of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
⁴ Department of Integrated Science and Engineering for Sustainable Society, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.
⁵ Division of Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan.
⁶ Research and Development Initiatives, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan.

PMID: 27394993
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.124

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor in terms of digestion and thickening of excess sludge from an aerobic membrane bioreactor. A digestion reactor equipped with an external polytetrafluoroethylene tubular microfiltration membrane module was operated in semi-batch mode. Solids were concentrated by repeated membrane filtration and sludge feeding, and their concentration reached 25,400mg/L after 92d. A high chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency, i.e., 98%, was achieved during operation. A hydraulic retention time of 34d and a pulse organic loading rate of 2200mg-COD/(L-reactor) gave a biogas production rate and biogas yield of 1.33L/(reactor d) and 0.08L/g-CODinput, respectively. The external membrane unit worked well without membrane cleaning for 90d. The transmembrane pressure reached 25kPa and the filtration flux decreased by 80% because of membrane fouling after operation for 90d.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Excess sludge; Membrane filtration; Microfiltration; Tubular PTFE membrane module.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels*
Biological Oxygen Demand Analysis*
Bioreactors*
Biotechnology / methods*
Filtration
Gases
Hydrolysis
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage / chemistry*

Substances

Biofuels
Gases
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage