Digestion performance and contributions of organic and inorganic fouling in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating waste activated sludge

Akira Hafuka; Riho Mashiko; Ryuto Odashima; Hiroshi Yamamura; Hisashi Satoh; Yoshimasa Watanabe

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.147

Digestion performance and contributions of organic and inorganic fouling in an anaerobic membrane bioreactor treating waste activated sludge

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Jan:272:63-69. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.147. Epub 2018 Oct 2.

Authors

Akira Hafuka¹, Riho Mashiko², Ryuto Odashima³, Hiroshi Yamamura⁴, Hisashi Satoh⁵, Yoshimasa Watanabe⁶

Affiliations

¹ Center for Regional Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan. Electronic address: hafuka.akira@nies.go.jp.
² 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: a14.ss6j@g.chuo-u.ac.jp.
³ 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: a13.xtgy@g.chuo-u.ac.jp.
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. Electronic address: yamamura.10x@g.chuo-u.ac.jp.
⁵ Division of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, North-13, West-8, Sapporo 060-8628, Japan. Electronic address: qsatoh@eng.hokudai.ac.jp.
⁶ Research and Development Initiatives, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan. Electronic address: yoshiw@tamacc.chuo-u.ac.jp.

PMID: 30312869
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.147

Abstract

This study evaluates the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) digesting waste activated sludge. A digestion reactor equipped with an external hollow fiber microfiltration membrane module was operated in continuous-mode for 248 days. The system demonstrated 56% volatile solids degradation at an organic loading rate of 0.40 g-VS/(L·d) in 15 days of hydraulic retention time. The average methane content in the biogas produced was 76% which is considerably high compared to that from a typical continuously stirred tank reactor. The transmembrane pressure remained under 12 kPa without membrane cleaning during the experimental period due to low filtration flux (0.01-0.07 m/d) and cross-flow-mode filtration. Ex situ membrane cleaning revealed that physically irreversible fouling was the dominant form of membrane fouling. Inorganic and organic fouling accounted for 16% and 45% of total membrane fouling, respectively.

Keywords: Anaerobic digestion; Biogas; Cross-flow filtration; Membrane fouling; Polytetrafluoroethylene membrane.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Biofuels
Bioreactors*
Filtration
Methane / metabolism
Sewage*
Waste Disposal, Fluid

Substances

Biofuels
Sewage
Methane