the term 'membrane bioreactor' expresses a combination of activated sludge and membrane separation processes. the need to processes like sedimentation and disinfection used in common methods is eliminated through mbr systems in a way that membranes are placed into or out of an aeration tank and the vacuumed wastewater created by the suction pump is pulled up from inside the membranes and leaves...

The thermodynamic interactions between membrane and sludge flocs in a submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) were investigated. It was found that Lewis acid-base (AB) interaction predominated in the total interactions. The interaction energy composition of membrane-sludge flocs combination was quite similar to that of membrane-bovine serum albumin (BSA) combination, indicating the critical role of...

Advanced wastewater treatment using membranes are popular environmental system processes since they allow reuse and recycling. However, fouling is a key limiting factor and so proprietary systems such as Avanti's RPU-185 Flexidisks membrane bioreactor (MBR) use novel rotating membranes to assist in ameliorating it. In earlier research, this rotating process was studied by creating a simulation ...

Membrane-based separation has gained increased popularity over the past few decades, particularly reverse osmosis (RO). A major impediment to improved performance of membrane processes, in general, is fouling. Fouling detrimental effects on membrane’s and integrity, as deposition accumulation foulants its surface and/or within pores leads a decline permeate flux, deterioration selectivity, perm...

an essential characteristic for high performance inherently hydrophobic membranes such as microporous high density polyethylene (hdpe) membranes is to have a hydrophilic surface. in this project, wet chemical functionalization as a facile and effective method was developed to give a hydrophilic property to hdpe membranes using polar functional groups. kclo3, k2cr2o7 and kmno4 were selected as o...

The impact of membrane fouling by natural organic matter (NOM) on the behavior of micropollutants during ultrafiltration (UF) was investigated. Batch experiments with radioactively labeled estradiol and ibuprofen in the presence of NOM model compounds (alginate, Nordic aquatic and Aldrich humic acid) were performed using a hydrophilic and a hydrophobic membrane. The results indicate that the im...

Fouling of nanofiltration (NF) membranes is the most significant obstacle to the development of a sustainable and energy-efficient NF process. Colloidal fouling and performance decline in NF processes is complex due to the combination of cake formation and salt concentration polarization effects, which are influenced by the properties of the colloids and the membrane, the operating conditions o...

In this study, a method of in situ membrane fouling quantification is developed that enables comparisons of foulant accumulation between desalination processes with different membranes, driving forces, and feed solutions. Unlike the conventional metric of flux decline, which measures the response of a process to fouling, the proposed method quantifies the foulant accumulation. Foulant accumulat...

Membrane fouling control is of paramount importance for sustainable operation of membranebased drinking water treatment processes. Natural organic matter (NOM) is considered as the major membrane foulant and therefore its characterization is important for implementing fouling control strategies. This study proposes a fluorescence-based modeling approach for estimating and predicting the fouling...

The presence of calcium and humic substances or natural organic matter (NOM) in surface waters can cause severe fouling of nanofiltration (NF) membranes. Conditions of fouling were studied using a stainless steel stirred cell of volume 185 mL and a membrane area of 21.2*10-4m2 at a transmembrane pressure of 5 bar. Deposition of organic matter was determined by mass balance in feed and concentra...