Performance of a novel baffled osmotic membrane bioreactor-microfiltration hybrid system under continuous operation for simultaneous nutrient removal and mitigation of brine discharge

Abstract

The present study investigated the performance of an integrated osmotic and microfiltration membrane bioreactor system for wastewater treatment employing baffles in the reactor. Thus, this reactor design enables both aerobic and anoxic processes in an attempt to reduce the process footprint and energy costs associated with continuous aeration. The process performance was evaluated in terms of water flux, salinity build up in the bioreactor, organic and nutrient removal and microbial activity using synthetic reverse osmosis (RO) brine as draw solution (DS). The incorporation of MF membrane was effective in maintaining a reasonable salinity level (612-1434 mg/L) in the reactor which resulted in a much lower flux decline (i.e. 11.48 to 6.98 LMH) as compared to previous studies. The stable operation of the osmotic membrane bioreactor–forward osmosis (OMBR-FO) process resulted in an effective removal of both organic matter (97.84%) and nutrient (phosphate 87.36% and total nitrogen 94.28%), respectively.