Performance and filtration characteristics of non-woven membranes used in a submerged membrane bioreactor for synthetic wastewater treatment

Experimental studies were conducted to investigate the performance and filtration characteristics of a submerged non-woven membrane bioreactor system. The results showed that an activated sludge system with a submerged tubular non-woven membrane module could be operated until the mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) reached about 11,000 mg/L. In studying the filtration characteristics of our submerged non-woven membrane bioreactor system, the factors under investigating included pore size, initial flux, aeration intensity and MLSS effect. It was found that suspended floc particles of activated sludge were the main contributor for membrane fouling. The filtration behaviors of the submerged non-woven membrane bioreactor system were different from those of conventional microporous membrane bioreactor systems, especially operating at high aeration intensity and high MLSS concentration.