Municipal Wastewater Treatment Using a UASB Coupled with Cross-Flow Membrane Filtration
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 135, Issue 2
Abstract
A pilot scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) coupled with cross-flow membrane filtration was used to treat low strength municipal wastewater in Singapore. The application of membrane filtration as a polishing unit of UASB effluent could produce better effluent quantity than conventional UASB. In this research, with gradually reducing hydraulic retention time from , membrane effluent was able to meet the more stringent effluent criterion over the whole experiment. Simultaneously, biogas yield increased from , in which methane percentages were also increased from 59.3 to 65.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the results of anaerobic membrane filtration showed that there were three different methods could effectively mitigate rapid membrane fouling and maintain trans-membrane pressure as low and stable as possible. These would reduce membrane cleaning frequency and prolong membrane life span.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers would like to express heartfelt thanks to the Public Utilities Board of Singapore for providing grants for this research. The Ulu Pandan Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation plant is equally thanked for their assistance in providing the sludge and wastewater sample.
References
Aiyuk, S., Forrez, I., Lieven, D. K., Van Haandel, A., and Verstraete, W. (2006). “Anaerobic and complementary treatment of domestic sewage in regions with hot climates—A review.” Bioresour. Technol., 97(17), 2225–2241.
Aiyuk, S., and Verstraete, W. (2004). “Sedimentological evolution in an UASB treating SYNTHES, a new representative synthetic sewage, at low loading rates.” Bioresour. Technol., 93(3), 269–278.
APHA. (1999). Standard methods for the examination of waster and wastewater, American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.
Chu, L.-B., Yang, F.-L., and Zhang, X.-W. (2005). “Anaerobic treatment of domestic wastewater in a membrane-coupled expended granular sludge bed (EGSB) reactor under moderate to low temperature.” Process Biochem. (Oxford, U.K.), 40(3–4), 1063–1070.
Cui, Z. F., Chang, S., and Fane, A. G. (2003). “The use of gas bubbling to enhance membrane processes.” J. Membr. Sci., 221(1–2), 1–35.
Elmitwalli, T. A., Oahn, K. L. T., Zeeman, G., and Lettinga, G. (2002a). “Treatment of domestic sewage in a two-step anaerobic filter/anaerobic hybrid system at low temperature.” Water Res., 36(9), 2225–2232.
Elmitwalli, T. A., Sklyar, V., Zeeman, G., and Lettinga, G. (2002b). “Low temperature pretreatment of domestic sewage in an anaerobic hybrid or an anaerobic filter reactor.” Bioresour. Technol., 82(3), 233–239.
Green, M., Shaul, N., Beliavski, M., Sabbah, I., Ghattas, B., and Tarre, S. (2006). “Minimizing land requirement and evaporation in small wastewater treatment systems.” Ecol. Eng., 26(3), 266–271.
Keith Brindle, T. S. (1996). “The application of membrane biological reactors for the treatment of wastewaters.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 49(6), 601–610.
Lettinga, G., Van Velsen, A. F., Hobma, S. W., and Zeeuw, K. A. (1980). “Use of the upflow sludge blanket (USB) reactor concept for biological wastewater treatment, especially for anaerobic treatment.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 22, 699–734.
Li, Q. Y., Cui, Z. F., and Pepper, D. S. (1997). “Effect of bubble size and frequency on the permeate flux of gas sparged ultrafiltration with tubular membranes.” Chem. Eng. J., 67(1), 71–75.
Liew Abdullah, A. G., Idris, A., Ahmadun, F. R., Baharin, B. S., Emby, F., Megat Mohd Noor, M. J., and Nour, A. H. (2005). “A kinetic study of a membrane anaerobic reactor (MAR) for treatment of sewage sludge.” Desalination, 183(1–3), 439–445.
Mahmoud, N., Zeeman, G., Gijzen, H., and Lettinga, G. (2003). “Solids removal in upflow anaerobic reactors, a review.” Bioresour. Technol., 90(1), 1–9.
Mara, D. (2004). Domestic wastewater treatment in developing countries, Earthscan, U.K.
Ndinisa, N. V., Fane, A. G., and Wiley, D. E. (2006). “Fouling control in a submerged flat sheet membrane system: Part I—Bubbling and hydrodynamic effects.” Sep. Sci. Technol., 41(7), 1383–1409.
Saravanan, V., and Sreekrishnan, T. R. (2006). “Modelling anaerobic biofilm reactors—A review.” J. Environ. Manage., 81(1), 1–18.
Sato, N., Okubo, T., Onodera, T., Ohashi, A., and Harada, H. (2006). “Prospects for a self-sustainable sewage treatment system: A case study on full-scale UASB system in India’s Yamuna River Basin.” J. Environ. Manage., 80(3), 198–207.
Schmidt, J. E., and Ahring, B. K. (1996). “Granular sludge formation in upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactors.” Biotechnol. Bioeng., 49(3), 229–246.
Sofia, A., Ng, W. J., and Ong, S. L. (2004). “Engineering design approaches for minimum fouling in submerged MBR.” Desalination, 160(1), 67–74.
Tanaka, Y. (2002). “A dual purpose packed-bed reactor for biogas scrubbing and methane-dependent water quality improvement applying to a wastewater treatment system consisting of UASB reactor and trickling filter.” Bioresour. Technol., 84(1), 21–28.
Tay, J. H., Jeyaseelan, S., and Show, K. Y. (1996). “Performance of anaerobic packedbed system with different media characteristics.” Water Sci. Technol., 34(5–6), 453–459.
Van Lier, J. B., Tilche, A., Ahring, B. K., Macarie, H., Moletta, R., and Dohanyos, M. (2001). “New perspectives in anaerobic digestion.” Water Sci. Technol., 43(1), 1–18.
Verstraete, W., and Vandevivere, P. (1999). “New and broader applications of anaerobic digestion.” Crit. Rev. Environ. Sci. Technol., 29(2), 151–173.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: Oct 13, 2006
Accepted: Sep 23, 2008
Published online: Feb 1, 2009
Published in print: Feb 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.