Moving bed membrane bioreactor treating wastewater low load paper production industry: analysis ofperformance and clogging of membranes

ABSTRACT

The membrane bioreactor process has been consolidated in recent years as an alternative to traditional methods for the treatment of effluents from the paper production industry. Recently, the introduction of support material in these reactors has contributed to the improvement of their performance, in view of the greater biological activity that occurs as a result of the development of biofilms. Thus, the presence of adhered biomass gives the membrane bioreactor an additional capacity to withstand shock loads, as well as contributing to the biodegradation of potentially toxic and recalcitrant compounds such as lignin derivatives. Thus, the present work aimed to evaluate the performance of a sequencing batch moving bed membrane bioreactor and applied to the treatment of real low-load effluent from paper production. The reactor was evaluated for its performance in removing soluble chemical oxygen demand, total phenol, true color, aromatic (UV_254mn) and lignin (UV_280mn) compounds. At the same time, the reactor was evaluated in terms of the membrane clogging process, by monitoring the transmembrane pressure, the concentration of extracellular polymeric substances and soluble microbial products. Under the conditions tested, the sequencing batch moving bed membrane bioreactor achieved an average removal efficiency of 89; 39; 38; 57; and 73% for CODs, UV_254nm, UV_280nm, true color and total phenols, respectively. Regarding membrane clogging, the variables UV_254nm, UV_280nm and total phenols were directly correlated with the increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP).

Keywords:
biorreator com membranas; moving bed; aromatic and lignin compounds; membrane fouling; paper production effluent