Wastewater treatment and fouling control in an electro algae-activated sludge membrane bioreactor

Mary Vermi Aizza Corpuz; Laura Borea; Vincenzo Senatore; Fabiano Castrogiovanni; Antonio Buonerba; Giuseppina Oliva; Florencio Ballesteros Jr; Tiziano Zarra; Vincenzo Belgiorno; Kwang-Ho Choo; Shadi W Hasan; Vincenzo Naddeo

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147475

Wastewater treatment and fouling control in an electro algae-activated sludge membrane bioreactor

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 10:786:147475. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147475. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Affiliations

¹ Environmental Engineering Program, National Graduate School of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
² Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy.
³ Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy; Inter-University Centre for Prediction and Prevention of Relevant Hazards (Centro Universitario per la Previsione e Prevenzione Grandi Rischi, C.U.G.RI.), Via Giovanni Paolo II, Fisciano, SA, Italy.
⁴ Environmental Engineering Program, National Graduate School of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines; Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines, 1101 Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
⁵ Department of Environmental Engineering, Kyungpook National University (KNU), 80 Daehak-ro, Bukgu, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea.
⁶ Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT), Department of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
⁷ Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division (SEED), Department of Civil Engineering, University of Salerno, 84084 Fisciano, Italy. Electronic address: vnaddeo@unisa.it.

PMID: 33971601
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147475

Abstract

The effect of addition of algae to activated sludge as active biomass in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) and electro-MBRs (e-MBRs) for wastewater remediation was examined in this study. The performances of Algae-Activated Sludge Membrane Bioreactor (AAS-MBR) and electro Algae-Activated Sludge Membrane Bioreactor (e-AAS-MBR) were compared to those observed in conventional MBR and e-MBR, which were previously reported and utilized activated sludge as biomass. The effect of application of electric field was also examined by the comparison of performances of e-AAS-MBR and AAS-MBR. Similar chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction efficiencies of AAS-MBR, e-AAS-MBR, MBR, and e-MBR (98.35 ± 0.35%, 99.12 ± 0.08%, 97.70 ± 1.10%, and 98.10 ± 1.70%, respectively) were observed. The effect of the algae-activated sludge system was significantly higher in the nutrient removals. Ammoniacal nitrogen (NH₃-N) removal efficiencies of AAS-MBR and e-AAS-MBR were higher by 43.89% and 26.61% than in the conventional MBR and e-MBR, respectively. Phosphate phosphorous (PO₄^3--P) removals were also higher in AAS-MBR and e-AAS-MBR by 6.43% and 2.66% than those in conventional MBR and e-MBR. Membrane fouling rates in AAS-MBR and e-AAS-MBR were lower by 57.30% and 61.95% than in MBR and e-MBR, respectively. Lower concentrations of fouling substances were also observed in the reactors containing algae-activated sludge biomass. Results revealed that addition of algae improved nutrient removal and membrane fouling mitigation. The study also highlighted that the application of electric field in the e-AAS-MBR enhanced organic contaminants and nutrients removal, and fouling rate reduction.

Keywords: Activated sludge; Algae; Electrochemical; Fouling; Membrane bioreactor; Wastewater.

MeSH terms

Bioreactors
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage*
Wastewater
Water Purification*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Sewage
Waste Water