Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse
The low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) process is a recent development of reverse osmosis (RO) technology for the reduction in RO energy consumption and operation cost. The goal of this study was to investigate the performance of LPRO processes for the treatment and reuse of effluent discharged fro...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2021-08-01
|
| Series: | Water |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/15/2123 |
| _version_ | 1797525110586867712 |
|---|---|
| author | Peter Innes Sheng Chang Md. Saifur Rahaman |
| author_facet | Peter Innes Sheng Chang Md. Saifur Rahaman |
| author_sort | Peter Innes |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) process is a recent development of reverse osmosis (RO) technology for the reduction in RO energy consumption and operation cost. The goal of this study was to investigate the performance of LPRO processes for the treatment and reuse of effluent discharged from brewery upflow anaerobic sludge blanket bioreactors (UASB). In this study, three different commercially available LPRO membranes were tested to evaluate the water quality that can be achieved under different operational and pretreatment conditions. It was found that the filtration performance and the effluent quality of the LPRO membranes can be considerably affected by the operation conditions and the selection of the pretreatment processes. The ultrafiltration (UF) pretreatment and the control of the operation pressure were found to be essential for mitigating LPRO membrane fouling, which could be caused by Ca<sup>2+</sup> associated precipitates and organic gelation, in the treatment of the brewery UASB effluent. Water quality analyses showed that an integrated process of the UASB + UF + LPRO could achieve an effluent quality characterized by concentrations of 10.4–12.5 mg/L of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 1.8–2.1 mg/L of total nitrogen (TN), 1.3–1.8 mg/L of ammonia nitrogen (NH<sub>3</sub>-N) and 0.8–1.2 mg/L of total phosphorus (TP). The effluent quality and the LPRO performance could be further improved by adding a granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption process between the UF and LPRO processes, which reduced the concentration of COD to 7–10 mg/L and those of TN, TP, NH<sub>3</sub>-N to below 1 mg/L. For the treatment of the UASB effluent tested in this study, the UF, UF + GAC (retention time 4 hrs), UF + LPRO, and UF + GAC + LPRO, respectively, achieved overall COD removal efficiencies of 89.6–93.7%, 94.5–96.7%, 99.3–99.1% and 99.3–99.4%; TN removal efficiencies of 73.0–78.2%, 89.2–97.2%, 97.1–98.2% and 94.3–99.7%; and TP removal efficiencies of 29.3–46.2%, 77.0–95.4%, 95.9–97.6z% and 98.0–98.3%. This study showed that both UASB + UF + LPRO and UASB + UF + GAC + LPRO are effective treatment processes for treating brewery wastewater toward reuse water quality standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Therefore, the results of this study would help to answer whether a LPRO can treat the brewery UASB effluent to meet the requirements of wastewater reuse standards. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:06:09Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-48516f56191e4d2b81d1133ce1330617 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4441 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T09:06:09Z |
| publishDate | 2021-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Water |
| spelling | doaj.art-48516f56191e4d2b81d1133ce13306172023-11-22T06:20:43ZengMDPI AGWater2073-44412021-08-011315212310.3390/w13152123Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water ReusePeter Innes0Sheng Chang1Md. Saifur Rahaman2School of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, CanadaSchool of Engineering, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, CanadaDepartment of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, QC H3G 1M8, CanadaThe low-pressure reverse osmosis (LPRO) process is a recent development of reverse osmosis (RO) technology for the reduction in RO energy consumption and operation cost. The goal of this study was to investigate the performance of LPRO processes for the treatment and reuse of effluent discharged from brewery upflow anaerobic sludge blanket bioreactors (UASB). In this study, three different commercially available LPRO membranes were tested to evaluate the water quality that can be achieved under different operational and pretreatment conditions. It was found that the filtration performance and the effluent quality of the LPRO membranes can be considerably affected by the operation conditions and the selection of the pretreatment processes. The ultrafiltration (UF) pretreatment and the control of the operation pressure were found to be essential for mitigating LPRO membrane fouling, which could be caused by Ca<sup>2+</sup> associated precipitates and organic gelation, in the treatment of the brewery UASB effluent. Water quality analyses showed that an integrated process of the UASB + UF + LPRO could achieve an effluent quality characterized by concentrations of 10.4–12.5 mg/L of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 1.8–2.1 mg/L of total nitrogen (TN), 1.3–1.8 mg/L of ammonia nitrogen (NH<sub>3</sub>-N) and 0.8–1.2 mg/L of total phosphorus (TP). The effluent quality and the LPRO performance could be further improved by adding a granular activated carbon (GAC) adsorption process between the UF and LPRO processes, which reduced the concentration of COD to 7–10 mg/L and those of TN, TP, NH<sub>3</sub>-N to below 1 mg/L. For the treatment of the UASB effluent tested in this study, the UF, UF + GAC (retention time 4 hrs), UF + LPRO, and UF + GAC + LPRO, respectively, achieved overall COD removal efficiencies of 89.6–93.7%, 94.5–96.7%, 99.3–99.1% and 99.3–99.4%; TN removal efficiencies of 73.0–78.2%, 89.2–97.2%, 97.1–98.2% and 94.3–99.7%; and TP removal efficiencies of 29.3–46.2%, 77.0–95.4%, 95.9–97.6z% and 98.0–98.3%. This study showed that both UASB + UF + LPRO and UASB + UF + GAC + LPRO are effective treatment processes for treating brewery wastewater toward reuse water quality standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Therefore, the results of this study would help to answer whether a LPRO can treat the brewery UASB effluent to meet the requirements of wastewater reuse standards.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/15/2123low pressure reverse osmosis membraneupflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactorbrewery wastewaterwater reuseultrafiltrationgranular activated carbon adsorption |
| spellingShingle | Peter Innes Sheng Chang Md. Saifur Rahaman Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse Water low pressure reverse osmosis membrane upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor brewery wastewater water reuse ultrafiltration granular activated carbon adsorption |
| title | Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse |
| title_full | Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse |
| title_fullStr | Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse |
| title_short | Treatment of Effluent of Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Bioreactor for Water Reuse |
| title_sort | treatment of effluent of upflow anaerobic sludge blanket bioreactor for water reuse |
| topic | low pressure reverse osmosis membrane upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor brewery wastewater water reuse ultrafiltration granular activated carbon adsorption |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/15/2123 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT peterinnes treatmentofeffluentofupflowanaerobicsludgeblanketbioreactorforwaterreuse AT shengchang treatmentofeffluentofupflowanaerobicsludgeblanketbioreactorforwaterreuse AT mdsaifurrahaman treatmentofeffluentofupflowanaerobicsludgeblanketbioreactorforwaterreuse |