Demonstration of suburban sewage pre-concentration by enhanced membrane coagulation reactor (E-MCR) for organic matter recovery: a pilot study

Aiming at semi-decentralized suburban sewage resource recovery, pilot-scale Enhanced membrane coagulation reactor (E-MCR) was set up for the first time for preliminary demonstration of sewage pre-concentration. During around 2400h continuous operation with different working scenarios, a relative stable average permeability of 30-50 L/mh·bar was achieved through the combination of enhanced coagulation process and air backflushing for raw sewage severe fouling control. The average COD concentration of the concentrate with an SRT of 2.5d could reach around 18000mg/L, which is close to blackwater and benefit for anaerobic digestion for energy recovery. By energy balance estimation, the net energy production of E-MCR system was anticipated as 0.0557 kWh/m at optimal conditions. The application of E-MCR for semi-decentralized sewage resource recovery was demonstrated promising.