Large pilot-scale submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor for the treatment of municipal wastewater and biogas production at 25 °C

Zhe Kong; Jiang Wu; Chao Rong; Tianjie Wang; Lu Li; Zibin Luo; Jiayuan Ji; Taira Hanaoka; Shinichi Sakemi; Masami Ito; Shigeki Kobayashi; Masumi Kobayashi; Yu Qin; Yu-You Li

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124123

Large pilot-scale submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor for the treatment of municipal wastewater and biogas production at 25 °C

Bioresour Technol. 2021 Jan:319:124123. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124123. Epub 2020 Sep 16.

Authors

Zhe Kong¹, Jiang Wu², Chao Rong³, Tianjie Wang¹, Lu Li¹, Zibin Luo¹, Jiayuan Ji¹, Taira Hanaoka⁴, Shinichi Sakemi⁴, Masami Ito⁵, Shigeki Kobayashi⁵, Masumi Kobayashi⁶, Yu Qin¹, Yu-You Li⁷

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Environmental Protection Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan.
² Laboratory of Environmental Protection Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan; Center for Material Cycles and Waste Management Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan.
³ Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan.
⁴ Solution Engineering Group, Environmental Engineering Department, Mitsubishi Kakoki Kaisha, Ltd., 1-2 Miyamae-Cho, Kawasaki-Ku, Kawasaki, Kanagawa 210-0012, Japan.
⁵ Global Water Recycling and Reuse System Association, Japan, 5-1, Soto-Kanda 1-Chome, Chiyoda-Ku, Tokyo 101-0021, Japan.
⁶ Separation and Aqua Chemicals Department, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation, Gate City Osaki East Tower, 11-2 Osaki 1-chome, Shinagawa-Ku, Tokyo 141-0032, Japan.
⁷ Laboratory of Environmental Protection Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan; Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Tohoku University, 6-6-06 Aza-Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba Ward, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8579, Japan. Electronic address: gyokuyu.ri.a5@tohoku.ac.jp.

PMID: 32971330
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2020.124123

Abstract

The aim of this work was to demonstrate the operation of a large pilot-scale submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor (5.0 m³) for biogas production from municipal wastewater at ambient temperature of 25 °C. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest one-stage submerged AnMBR that has ever been reported. This AnMBR realized a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6 h and a treatment capacity of 20 m³ d^-1, obtaining excellent effluent quality with COD removal efficiency over 90% and BOD₅ removal over 95%. The biogas yield of the AnMBR was 0.25-0.27 L g^-1 removed COD and 0.09-0.10 L L^-1 raw wastewater. The methane content of the biogas was at the range of 75%-81%. The COD and nitrogen mass balance were also identified based on long-term operation. The hollow-fiber membrane module realized a flux of 2.75-17.83 LMH. An online backwash chemical cleaning system helped to lower the transmembrane pressure timely.

Keywords: AnMBR; Anaerobic digestion; Demonstration, biogas; Mass balance; Municipal wastewater.

MeSH terms

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

Substances

Biofuels
Membranes, Artificial
Waste Water
Methane