A plant-wide modelling comparison between membrane bioreactors and conventional activated sludge

Giorgio Mannina; Alida Cosenza; Taise Ferreira Rebouças

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122401

A plant-wide modelling comparison between membrane bioreactors and conventional activated sludge

Bioresour Technol. 2020 Feb:297:122401. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122401. Epub 2019 Nov 11.

Authors

Giorgio Mannina¹, Alida Cosenza², Taise Ferreira Rebouças²

Affiliations

¹ Engineeering Department, Palermo University, Viale delle Scienze, Ed.8, 90128 Palermo, Italy. Electronic address: giorgio.mannina@unipa.it.
² Engineeering Department, Palermo University, Viale delle Scienze, Ed.8, 90128 Palermo, Italy.

PMID: 31761624
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122401

Abstract

A comprehensive plant-wide mathematical modelling comparison between conventional activated sludge (CAS) and Membrane bioreactor (MBR) systems is presented. The main aim of this study is to highlight the key features of CAS and MBR in order to provide a guide for an effective plant operation. A scenario analysis was performed to investigate the influence on direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and operating costs of (i) the composition of inflow wastewater (scenario 1), (ii) operating conditions (scenario 2) and (iii) oxygen transfer efficiency (scenario 3). Scenarios show higher indirect GHG emissions for MBR than CAS, which result is related to the higher energy consumption in MBR. The simultaneous variation of the investigated factors (scenario 4) exacerbates direct and indirect GHG emissions for both CAS and MBR. Indeed, during scenario 4 a maximum direct GHG emissions of 0.94 kgCO_2eq m^-3 and 1.56 kgCO_2eq m^-3 for CAS and MBR, respectively, was obtained.

Keywords: Energy demand; Greenhouse gases; Mathematical modelling; Plant-wide model; Simple model; WWTP.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Greenhouse Gases*
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage*
Waste Disposal, Fluid
Wastewater

Substances

Greenhouse Gases
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage
Waste Water