Preprint Article Version 1 Preserved in Portico This version is not peer-reviewed

Optimal Mesh Pore-Size Combined with a Periodic Air Mass Load for the Fouling Control in Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) for a Sustainable Treatment of a Real Municipal Wastewater

Senouci Boulerial
,
Carlo Salerno
* ,
Fabiano Castrogiovanni
,
Marina Tumolo
ORCID logo ,
Giovanni Berardi
,
Abdelkader Debab
,
Boumediene Haddou
,
Abdellah Benhamou
,
Alfieri Pollice
ORCID logo
Version 1 : Received: 11 January 2024 / Approved: 12 January 2024 / Online: 12 January 2024 (06:59:28 CET)

A peer-reviewed article of this Preprint also exists.

Boulerial, S.; Salerno, C.; Castrogiovanni, F.; Tumolo, M.; Berardi, G.; Debab, A.; Haddou, B.; Benhamou, A.; Pollice, A. Optimal Mesh Pore Size Combined with Periodic Air Mass Load (AML) for Effective Operation of a Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) for Sustainable Treatment of Municipal Wastewater. Processes 2024, 12, 323. Boulerial, S.; Salerno, C.; Castrogiovanni, F.; Tumolo, M.; Berardi, G.; Debab, A.; Haddou, B.; Benhamou, A.; Pollice, A. Optimal Mesh Pore Size Combined with Periodic Air Mass Load (AML) for Effective Operation of a Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) for Sustainable Treatment of Municipal Wastewater. Processes 2024, 12, 323.

Abstract

The Self-Forming Dynamic Membrane BioReactor (SFD MBR) is a cost-effective alternative to conventional MBR, where the synthetic membrane is replaced by the “cake layer”, an accumulation of the biological suspension over a surface of inert low-cost support, caused by a suction force. Under optimized conditions, the cake layer reveals easy to remove and quick to form again, resulting a “dynamic membrane”. The permeate of SFD MBR has chemo-physical characteristics comparable to those of conventional MBR. In this paper, two nylon meshes with a pore-size of 20 and 50 µm respectively were tested in a bench scale SFD MBR where a periodic air mass load (AML) was supplied tangential to the filtration surface to maintain filtration effectiveness. The SFD MBR equipped with the 20 µm nylon mesh coupled to 5 min of AML every 4 hours showed the best performance both ensuring a permeate with turbidity values always below 3 NTU and revealing no critical fouling. A benchmark test, conducted in the same experimental time, with identical operating conditions, and the only difference of a suction break (relaxation) instead of the AML. This latter test produced a permeate of very good quality, but it needed frequent mesh cleanings, showing that a periodic AML coupled with the use of a 20 µm mesh can be a good strategy for long term operation of SFD MBR.

Keywords

biological membrane; SFD MBR; mesh fouling; turbidity; air mass load

Subject

Environmental and Earth Sciences, Water Science and Technology

Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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