The development of a novel hybrid aerating membrane-anaerobic baffled reactor for the simultaneous nitrogen and organic carbon removal from wastewater

A novel hybrid aerating membrane-anaerobic baffled reactor (HMABR), based on the installation of aerating membrane into an anaerobic baffled reactor (ABR), to achieve simultaneous removal of nitrogenous and carbonaceous organic pollutants was developed in this study. The results demonstrated that after the installation of membrane module, total VFA and COD concentration in the HMABR effluent were decreased by 68.1 and 59.5% respectively, with increased nitrogenous pollutant remove efficiency by 83.5%, at influent COD concentration of 1600 mg/L and NH4+–N concentration of 80 mg/L. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) results of the aerating membrane biofilm showed that the biofilm stratification for the spatial profiles of ammonia–oxidizing bacteria, nitrite–oxidizing bacteria, aerobic heterotrophic bacteria, and denitrifying bacteria. The potential usage of HMABR widens the usage of aerobic–anaerobic combination technology for industrial wastewater treatment.