TY - JOUR
T1 - Gravity-driven membrane system for secondary wastewater effluent treatment: Filtration performance and fouling characterization
AU - Wang, Yiran
AU - Fortunato, Luca
AU - Jeong, Sanghyun
AU - Leiknes, TorOve
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: This study was supported by funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
PY - 2017/4/21
Y1 - 2017/4/21
N2 - Gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration is one of the promising membrane bioreactor (MBR) configurations. It operates at an ultra-low pressure by gravity, requiring a minimal energy. The objective of this study was to understand the performance of GDM filtration system and characterize the biofouling formation on a flat sheet membrane. This submerged GDM reactor was operated at constant gravitational pressure in treating of two different concentrations of secondary wastewater effluent. Morphology of biofilm layer was acquired by an in-situ and on-line optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanning in a fixed position at regular intervals. The thickness and roughness calculated from OCT images were related to the variation of flux, fouling resistance and permeate quality. At the end of experiment, fouling was quantified by total organic carbon (TOC) and adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) method. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was also applied for biofouling morphology observation. The biofouling formed on membrane surface was mostly removed by physical cleaning confirmed by contact angle measurement before and after cleaning. This demonstrated that fouling on the membrane under ultra-low pressure operation was highly reversible. The superiority and sustainability of GDM in both flux maintaining and long-term operation with production of high quality effluent was demonstrated.
AB - Gravity-driven membrane (GDM) filtration is one of the promising membrane bioreactor (MBR) configurations. It operates at an ultra-low pressure by gravity, requiring a minimal energy. The objective of this study was to understand the performance of GDM filtration system and characterize the biofouling formation on a flat sheet membrane. This submerged GDM reactor was operated at constant gravitational pressure in treating of two different concentrations of secondary wastewater effluent. Morphology of biofilm layer was acquired by an in-situ and on-line optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanning in a fixed position at regular intervals. The thickness and roughness calculated from OCT images were related to the variation of flux, fouling resistance and permeate quality. At the end of experiment, fouling was quantified by total organic carbon (TOC) and adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) method. Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was also applied for biofouling morphology observation. The biofouling formed on membrane surface was mostly removed by physical cleaning confirmed by contact angle measurement before and after cleaning. This demonstrated that fouling on the membrane under ultra-low pressure operation was highly reversible. The superiority and sustainability of GDM in both flux maintaining and long-term operation with production of high quality effluent was demonstrated.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/623290
UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1383586616320585
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85018329004&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.seppur.2017.04.027
DO - 10.1016/j.seppur.2017.04.027
M3 - Article
SN - 1383-5866
VL - 184
SP - 26
EP - 33
JO - Separation and Purification Technology
JF - Separation and Purification Technology
ER -