Economical Evaluation and Operating Experiences of a Small-Scale MBR for Nonpotable Reuse
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138, Issue 5
Abstract
Because of their consistently high effluent quality, small footprint, and robustness to variations in influent quality, membrane bioreactors (MBRs) have become the technology of choice for small-scale reuse applications, such as in office buildings, hotels, and on cruise ships. The emergence of these systems arises from a number of drivers: lack of sewerage infrastructure, requirement for planning permission, subsidies, new guidelines for green buildings, and the public profile of recycling generally. This paper details the design and operation of a small-scale MBR providing of reclaimed water for toilet flushing and irrigation. Operational experience and outcomes from a 2-year evaluation period are included. An economic analysis of operational expenditures (OPEX) is also presented, revealing that for a plant of this scale, staffing costs account for the largest component (53%) of the OPEX followed by energy consumption (28%). The optimum design of these systems should therefore be focused on reducing operational complexity to minimize manual intervention.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge Wayne Edwards for his assistance in operating, maintaining, and sampling of the wastewater reclamation plant.
References
Abegglen, C., and Siegrist, H. (2006). “Domestic wastewater treatment with a small-scale membrane bioreactor.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 53(3), 69–78.
Abegglen, C., Ospelt, M., and Siegrist, H. (2008). “Biological nutrient removal in a small-scale MBR treating household wastewater.” Water Res.WATRAG, 42(1-2), 338–346.
Abegglen, C., Joss, A., Boehler, M., Buetzer, S., and Siegrist, H. (2009). “Reducing the natural color of membrane bioreactor permeate with activated carbon or ozone.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 60(1), 155–165.
American Public Health Association (APHA). (2005). Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 21st Ed., APHA, American Water Works Association (AWWA), and Water Environment Federation (WEF), Washington, DC.
Arpke, A., and Clerico, E. (2006). “Water reuse within green buildings: A case study of the solaire.” Proc., 2006 Water Sources Conf. and Exposition of the American Water Works Association, AWWA, Denver, CO.
Asano, T. (2007). Water reuse: Issues, technologies and applications, McGraw Hill, New York.
Boehler, M., Joss, A., Buetzer, S., Holzapfel, M., Mooser, H., and Siegrist, H. (2007). “Treatment of toilet wastewater for reuse in a membrane bioreactor.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 56(5), 63–70.
Brepols, C., Schaefer, H., and Engelhardt, N. (2010). “Considerations on the design and financial feasibility of full-scale membrane bioreactors for municipal applications.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 61(10), 2461–2468.
Clerico, E. (2007). “The solaire—A case study in urban water reuse.” Proc., National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association 2007 Technical Education Conf., National Onsite Wastewater Recycling Association, Alexandria, VA.
Côté, P., Masini, M., and Mourato, D. (2004). “Comparison of membrane options for water reuse and reclamation.” DesalinationDSLNAH, 167, 1–11.
Department for Communities and Local Goverment. (2010). Code for sustainable, 〈http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/code_for_sust_homes.pdf〉 (Aug. 12, 2010).
DeCarolis, J., Adham, S., Grounds, J., Pearce, B., and Wasserman, J. (2004). “Cost analysis of MBR systems for water reclamation.” Proc., WEFTEC 2004, Water Environment Federation, Alexandria, VA.
Energy EU. (2010). “Europe’s energy portal.”〈http://www.energy.eu/〉 (Aug. 12, 2010).
Ernst, M., Sperlich, A., Zheng, X., Gan, Y., Hu, J., and Zhao, X. (2007). “An integrated wastewater treatment and reuse concept for the Olympic Park 2008, Beijing.” DesalinationDSLNAH, 202(1-3), 293–301.
Fan, Y., Li, G., Wu, L., Yang, W., Dong, C., and Xu, H. (2006). “Treatment and reuse of toilet wastewater by an airlift external circulation membrane bioreactor.” Process Biochem.PRBCAP, 41(6), 1364–1370.
Fletcher, H., Mackley, T., and Judd, S. (2007). “The cost of a package plant membrane bioreactor.” Water Res.WATRAG, 41(12), 2627–2635.
Friedler, E., and Hadari, M. (2006). “Economic feasibility of on-site greywater reuse in multi-storey buildings.” DesalinationDSLNAH, 190(1-3), 221–234.
Garcès, A., De Wilde, W., Thoeye, C., and De Gueldre, G. (2007). “Operational cost optimisation of MBR schilde.” Proc., 4th IWA Int. Membranes Conf., Membranes for Water and Wastewater Treatment, Harrogate, UK.
Ginestet, P. (2006). Comparative evaluation of sludge reduction routes, EU report series, IWA Publishing, London.
Gnirss, R., Luedicke, C., Vocks, M., and Lesjean, B. (2008a). “Design criteria for semi-central sanitation with low pressure network and membrane bioreactor-the ENREM project.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 57(3), 403–409.
Gnirss, R., Vocks, M., Stueber, J., Luedicke, C., and Lesjean, B. (2008b). “Membrane technique in a freight container for advanced nutrients removal—The ENREM demonstration project.” IWA World Water Conf. and Exhibition 2008, International Water Association, London.
Judd, S. J., and Judd, C. (2010). The MBR book, 2nd Ed., Elsevier, Burlington, MA.
Karim, M. R., Bukhari, Z., and LeChevallier, M. W. (2005). “Microbiological quality of urban reuse water.” Proc., 20th Water Reuse Symp., Water Reuse Association, Alexandria, VA.
Merz, C., Scheumann, R., El Hamouri, B., and Kraume, M. (2007). “Membrane bioreactor technology for the treatment of greywater from a sports and leisure club.” DesalinationDSLNAH, 215(1-3), 37–43.
Meuler, S., Paris, S., and Hackner, T. (2008). “Membrane bio-reactors for decentralized wastewater treatment and reuse.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 58(2), 285–294.
Ogoshi, M., Suzuki, Y., and Asano, T. (2001). “Water reuse in Japan.” Water Sci. Technol., 43(10), 17–23WSTED4.
Paris, S., Schlapp, C., Keysers, C., and Spaeth, H. (2008). “In-building grey water recycling with MBR—Retrofit of a hotel without interruption of hotel operation.” Proc., IWA Conf. on Design and Operation of Membrane Plants for Water, Wastewater, Industrial Effluents, International Water Association, London.
The Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology. (2006). Purifying the wastewater debate, Marine Engineers Review, London, 64–67.
U.S. EPA. (2004). Guidelines for water reuse, EPA/625/R-04/108, Washington, DC.
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). (2010). 〈http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19〉 (Aug. 12, 2010).
Verrecht, B., James, C., Germain, E., and Judd, S. (2011). “Experimental evaluation of intermittent aeration of a hollow fibre memebrance bioreactor.” Water Sci. Technol.WSTED4, 63(6), 1217–1223.
Verrecht, B., Judd, S., Guglielmi, G., Brepols, C., and Mulder, J. W. (2008). “An aeration energy model for an immersed membrane bioreactor.” Water Res.WATRAG, 42(19), 4761–4770.
Verrecht, B., Maere, T., Benedetti, L., Nopens, I., and Judd, S. (2010a). Model-based energy optimisation of a small-scale decentralised membrane bioreactor for urban reuse.” Water Res.WATRAG, 44(14), 4047–4056.
Verrecht, B., Maere, T., Nopens, I., Brepols, C., and Judd, S. (2010b). “The cost of a large-scale hollow fibre MBR.” Water Res.WATRAG, 44(18), 5274–5283.
Winward, G. P., et al. (2008). “A study of the microbial quality of grey water and an evaluation of treatment technologies for reuse.” Ecol. Eng., 32(2), 187–197.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 138 • Issue 5 • May 2012
Pages: 594 - 600
Copyright
© 2012. American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 1, 2010
Accepted: Oct 6, 2011
Published online: Oct 8, 2011
Published in print: May 1, 2012
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.