University of New Mexico
Effect of solids retention time in membrane bioreactors on reverse osmosis membrane fouling
Abstract
dc:description.abstractAs sources of clean fresh water diminish, there is an increasing interest in water reuse. Membrane bioreactors (MBRs) are commonly used in wastewater treatment plants, though reuse of treated wastewater for potable purposes requires more advanced treatment. Reverse osmosis (RO), a water treatment process commonly used for drinking water, provides near complete removal of all inorganic and organic constituents from water. While much research has been conducted on both treatment processes, little research has been done on how the combined processes work together in treating wastewater to high enough standards for potable water reuse. The MBR-RO treatment process was studied using a bench scale system to treat primary wastewater effluent from a large municipal wastewater treatment plant. The solids retention time (SRT) in the MBRs was adjusted to 2, 10, and 20 days for the three experiments conducted and various parameters were measured. These parameters included inorganics and organics in the water and on the RO membranes, as well as the specific flux across the RO membranes. While the concentrations of organic and inorganic constituents in the MBR permeate were similar at the different SRTs, they accumulated to different concentrations on the RO membranes, and different rates of RO specific flux decline were observed. The higher the MBR SRT, the faster the decline in RO membrane specific flux. The effectiveness of RO membrane cleaning could not be correlated to MBR SRT. Confocal microscopy revealed higher ratios of live cells to dead cells and carbohydrates to dead cells at the highest SRT, but no trend was observed.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Civil Engineering
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Thesis
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Civil Engineering
- Year
- 2010
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Field, Elizabeth
- Contributors dc:contributor
-
- Howe, Dr. Kerry
- Thomson, Dr. Bruce
- Schuler, Dr. Andrew
Subjects
dc:subject × 4Rights
- Language dc:language
- English
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:digitalrepository.unm.edu:ce_etds-1104