State-of-the-Art Review on the Application of Membrane Bioreactors for Molecular Micro-Contaminant Removal from Aquatic Environment

My-Linh Nguyen; Ali Taghvaie Nakhjiri; Mehnaz Kamal; Abdullah Mohamed; Mohammed Algarni; Subbotina Tatyana Yu; Fu-Ming Wang; Chia-Hung Su

doi:10.3390/membranes12040429

State-of-the-Art Review on the Application of Membrane Bioreactors for Molecular Micro-Contaminant Removal from Aquatic Environment

Membranes (Basel). 2022 Apr 15;12(4):429. doi: 10.3390/membranes12040429.

Authors

My-Linh Nguyen¹, Ali Taghvaie Nakhjiri², Mehnaz Kamal³, Abdullah Mohamed⁴, Mohammed Algarni⁵, Subbotina Tatyana Yu⁶, Fu-Ming Wang¹, Chia-Hung Su⁷

Affiliations

¹ Graduate Institute of Applied Science and Technology, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City 106335, Taiwan.
² Department of Petroleum and Chemical Engineering, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran 1477893855, Iran.
³ Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, College of Pharmacy, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Research Centre, Future University in Egypt, New Cairo 11845, Egypt.
⁵ Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 344, Rabigh 21911, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ South Ural State University, 454080 Chelyabinsk, Russia.
⁷ Department of Chemical Engineering, Ming Chi University of Technology, New Taipei City 243303, Taiwan.

Abstract

In recent years, the emergence of disparate micro-contaminants in aquatic environments such as water/wastewater sources has eventuated in serious concerns about humans' health all over the world. Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is considered a noteworthy membrane-based technology, and has been recently of great interest for the removal micro-contaminants. The prominent objective of this review paper is to provide a state-of-the-art review on the potential utilization of MBRs in the field of wastewater treatment and micro-contaminant removal from aquatic/non-aquatic environments. Moreover, the operational advantages of MBRs compared to other traditional technologies in removing disparate sorts of micro-contaminants are discussed to study the ways to increase the sustainability of a clean water supplement. Additionally, common types of micro-contaminants in water/wastewater sources are introduced and their potential detriments on humans' well-being are presented to inform expert readers about the necessity of micro-contaminant removal. Eventually, operational challenges towards the industrial application of MBRs are presented and the authors discuss feasible future perspectives and suitable solutions to overcome these challenges.

Keywords: aquatic environment; membrane bioreactor; micro-contaminants; molecular removal.

Publication types

Review