A Novel Application of Recycled Ultrafiltration Membranes in an Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor (aMBR): A Proof-of-Concept Study

Autor: Jorge Senán-Salinas, Sotiris Patsios, Junkal Landaburu-Aguirre, Laura Rodríguez-Sáez, Eloy García Calvo, Serena Molina
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: Repositorio Institucional del Instituto IMDEA Agua
Instituto Cervantes
Membranes; Volume 12; Issue 2; Pages: 218
DOI: 10.3390/membranes12020218
Popis: The use of recycled ultrafiltration (r-UF) membranes, originating from end-of-life reverse osmosis membranes, as submerged flat-sheet membranes in an aerobic membrane bioreactor (aMBR) system is described herein for the first time. A feasibility study of this new approach was performed in a laboratory-scale aMBR system. The r-UF membrane performance was evaluated in terms of permeability, fouling behavior, and permeate quality using a widely used commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) as a reference. Tests were conducted under steady-flux operation (at 12 and 14 L·m−2·h−1) and a variable trans-membrane pressure. Synthetic wastewater simulating urban wastewater characteristics with approx. 0.4–0.5 g/L COD concentration was used as the feed. The obtained results showed that the rejection performance of the r-UF membrane was similar to the performance of the commercial flat sheet microfiltration membrane (c-MF) under comparable operating conditions. Moreover, concerning fouling behavior, the r-UF membrane exhibited higher fouling resistance compared with the c-MF membrane, although the permeability decline rate was lower. Both membranes had comparable fouling mechanisms behavior, with cake layer fouling resistance accounting for approx. 60% of the total fouling resistance. Finally, a preliminary economic assessment pointed out the potential competitiveness of using r-UF membranes for aMBRs (5.9–10.9 EUR·m−2) and the scaling-up challenges toward industrial applications.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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