Self-forming dynamic membrane bioreactor for textile industry wastewater treatment

Abstract

The robustness of anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (AnDMBR) for synthetic textile wastewater treatment was investigated. Textile wastewater may contain high concentrations of NaCl and sulfate, hence their impact on the AnDMBR performance was investigated in detail. A dynamic membrane was formed on a 20-μm pore sized nylon support layer at a constant flux of around 8 LMH. In the absence of sulfate addition, total and filtered (soluble) COD averaged 96 ± 49 mg/L (91% removal) and 75 ± 35 mg/L (93% removal), respectively. Sulfate addition increased total COD in the permeate to 222 ± 68 mg/L (79% removal). Average SS concentration was lower than 30 mg/L in the permeate although its concentration in the bioreactor reached 10 g/L. Throughout the AnDMBR operation dye removal averaged >97%. Sludge filterability, which was assessed by specific resistance to filtration, supernatant filtration, capillary suction time and viscosity, decreased after sulfate addition. Organic and inorganic matters in the dynamic layer were characterized by SEM-EDS and FTIR analyses. © 2020 Elsevier B.V.