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In-situ biogas sparging enhances the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) with mesh filter in low-strength wastewater treatment

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

In the recent years, anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology is being considered as a very attractive alternative for wastewater treatment due to the striking advantages such as upgraded effluent quality. However, fouling control is still a problem for the application of AnMBR. This study investigated the performance of an AnMBR using mesh filter as support material to treat low-strength wastewater via in-situ biogas sparging. It was found that mesh AnMBR exhibited high and stable chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiencies with values of 95 ± 5 % and an average methane yield of 0.24 L CH4/g CODremoved. Variation of transmembrane pressure (TMP) during operation indicated that mesh fouling was mitigated by in-situ biogas sparging and the fouling rate was comparable to that of aerobic membrane bioreactor with mesh filter reported in previous researches. The fouling layer formed on the mesh exhibited non-uniform structure; the porosity became larger from bottom layer to top layer. Biogas sparging could not change the composition but make thinner thickness of cake layer, which might be benefit for reducing membrane fouling rate. It was also found that ultrasonic cleaning of fouled mesh was able to remove most foulants on the surface or pores. This study demonstrated that in-situ biogas sparging enhanced the performance of AnMBRs with mesh filter in low-strength wastewater treatment. Apparently, AnMBRs with mesh filter can be used as a promising and sustainable technology for wastewater treatment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from NSFC (21377123 and 51322802), National Hi-Technology Development 863 Program of China (2011AA060901), the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University, and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Key Laboratory for Urban Pollutant Conversion, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Na Li, Yi Hu, Yong-Ze Lu, Raymond J. Zeng & Guo-Ping Sheng

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  1. Na Li
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  2. Yi Hu
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  3. Yong-Ze Lu
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  4. Raymond J. Zeng
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  5. Guo-Ping Sheng
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Correspondence to Raymond J. Zeng or Guo-Ping Sheng.

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Li, N., Hu, Y., Lu, YZ. et al. In-situ biogas sparging enhances the performance of an anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) with mesh filter in low-strength wastewater treatment. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 100, 6081–6089 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7455-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-016-7455-2

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