New and practical mathematical model of membrane fouling in an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor

Mst Fazana Rahman Zuthi; Wenshan Guo; Huu Hao Ngo; Duc Long Nghiem; Faisal I Hai; Siqing Xia; Jianxin Li; Jixiang Li; Yi Liu

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.006

New and practical mathematical model of membrane fouling in an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor

Bioresour Technol. 2017 Aug:238:86-94. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.006. Epub 2017 Apr 4.

Authors

Mst Fazana Rahman Zuthi¹, Wenshan Guo², Huu Hao Ngo³, Duc Long Nghiem⁴, Faisal I Hai⁴, Siqing Xia⁵, Jianxin Li⁶, Jixiang Li⁷, Yi Liu⁷

Affiliations

¹ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia; Department of Civil Engineering, Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology, Chittagong 4349, Bangladesh.
² School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
³ School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: h.ngo@uts.edu.au.
⁴ School of Civil Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
⁵ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tianjin Polytechnic University, Tianjin 300387, China.
⁷ Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park, Pudong, Shanghai, China.

PMID: 28432953
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.04.006

Abstract

This study aimed to develop a practical semi-empirical mathematical model of membrane fouling that accounts for cake formation on the membrane and its pore blocking as the major processes of membrane fouling. In the developed model, the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solid is used as a lumped parameter to describe the formation of cake layer including the biofilm. The new model considers the combined effect of aeration and backwash on the foulants' detachment from the membrane. New exponential coefficients are also included in the model to describe the exponential increase of transmembrane pressure that typically occurs after the initial stage of an MBR operation. The model was validated using experimental data obtained from a lab-scale aerobic sponge-submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR), and the simulation of the model agreed well with the experimental findings.

Keywords: Cake layer resistance; Mathematical model; Membrane bioreactor; Membrane fouling; Pore blocking resistance.

MeSH terms

Biofilms*
Bioreactors*
Membranes, Artificial
Models, Theoretical*
Pressure

Substances

Membranes, Artificial