Experimental methodology

1.2 Experimental setup

The experimental unit consisted of a cylindrical 220 l submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) equipped with a submerged hollow-fibre membrane of 0.03 pm rated pore diameter and 0.93 m2 filtering surface area (ZeeWeed ZW10) supplied by GE Water & Process Technologies (Figure 3). The effluent (permeate) was extracted from the top header of the module under slight vacuum (transmembrane pressure lower than 0.12 bar). Fouling was controlled by coarse bubbling of air flow and by intermittent filtration of the permeate. The pilot plant (ZW10) was located in the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain).

1.3 Feedwater characteristics

The reactor was fed with screened (2.5 mm) municipal wastewater. The average feed concentrations are given in Table 2. The feedwater was characterized by a high biodegradable organic fraction (BOD5/COD = 0.52-0.67). Also, suspended solids in the water had a high organic fraction (VSS/TSS = 0.85-0.95).

image173

Fig. 3. Configuration and photograph of the pilot-MBR system, ZW10.

COD

mg/l

CODsa

mg/l

N-NH4+

mg/l

N-NO2-

mg/l

N-NO3-

mg/l

pH

TSS

mg/l

Mean

879

262

70

0.07

2.0

8.1

830

Max.

1316

717

125

0.35

8.0

8.3

2200

Min.

270

137

33

0.03

1.0

7.7

150

a Samples were filtered through filter paper with a nominal pore size of 0.45 pm.

Table 2. Mean concentrations of the feedwater