A comparative pilot-scale evaluation of gas-sparged and granular activated carbon-fluidized anaerobic membrane bioreactors for domestic wastewater treatment

Patrick J Evans; Prathap Parameswaran; Kahao Lim; Jaeho Bae; Chungheon Shin; Jaeho Ho; Perry L McCarty

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.072

A comparative pilot-scale evaluation of gas-sparged and granular activated carbon-fluidized anaerobic membrane bioreactors for domestic wastewater treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2019 Sep:288:120949. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.072. Epub 2019 Jan 19.

Authors

Patrick J Evans¹, Prathap Parameswaran², Kahao Lim², Jaeho Bae³, Chungheon Shin⁴, Jaeho Ho⁵, Perry L McCarty⁴

Affiliations

¹ CDM Smith, 14432 SE Eastgate Way, Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA. Electronic address: snavetap1@gmail.com.
² Kansas State University, Department of Civil Engineering, 1701 C. Platt. St., 2118 Fiedler Hall, Manhattan, KS 66506-5000, USA.
³ Inha University, Department of Environmental Engineering, Nam-gu, Inharo 100, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Stanford University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 473 Via Ortega, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
⁵ CDM Smith, 14432 SE Eastgate Way, Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98007, USA.

PMID: 31202711
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.01.072

Abstract

Two significantly different pilot-scale AnMBRs were used to treat screened domestic wastewater for over one year. Both systems similarly reduced BOD₅ and COD by 86-90% within a 13-32 °C temperature range and at comparable COD loading rates of 1.3-1.4 kg-COD m^-3 d^-1 and membrane fluxes of 7.6-7.9 L m^-2 h^-1 (LMH). However, the GAC-fluidized AnMBR achieved these results at a 65% shorter hydraulic retention time than the gas-sparged AnMBR. The gas-sparged AnMBR was able to operate at a similar operating permeability with greater reactor concentrations of suspended solids and colloidal organics than the GAC-fluidized AnMBR. Also, the membranes were damaged more in the GAC-fluidized system. To better capture the relative advantages of each system a hybrid AnMBR comprised of a GAC-fluidized bioreactor connected to a separate gas-sparged ultrafiltration membrane system is proposed. This will likely be more effective, efficient, robust, resilient, and cost-effective.

Keywords: Anaerobic membrane bioreactor; Domestic wastewater; Fouling; GAC-fluidized; Gas-sparged; Hybrid AnMBR.

MeSH terms

Anaerobiosis
Bioreactors
Membranes, Artificial
Waste Disposal, Fluid*
Wastewater*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Waste Water