Removal of phosphorus by a high rate membrane adsorption hybrid system

• High rate MBR (HR-MBR) was successful in removing 90% of dissolved organics.
• Membrane adsorption hybrid system (MAHS) removed 85% of phosphate.
• Concurrent removal of organics and phosphate in a sustainable manner.

Membrane adsorption hybrid system (MAHS) was evaluated for the removal of phosphate from a high rate membrane bioreactor (HR-MBR) effluent. The HR-MBR was operated at permeate flux of 30 L/m2 h. The results indicated that the HR-MBR could eliminate 93.1 ± 1.5% of DOC while removing less than 53% phosphate (PO4-P). Due to low phosphate removal by HR-MBR, a post-treatment of strong base anion exchange resin (Dowex∗21K-XLT), and zirconium (IV) hydroxide were used as adsorbent in MAHS for further removal of phosphate from HR-MBR effluent. It was found that the MAHS enabled to eliminate more than 85% of PO4-P from HR-MBR effluent. Hence, HR-MBR followed by MAHS lead to simultaneous removal of organics and phosphate in a reliable manner. The experiments were conducted only for a short period to investigate the efficiency of these resins/adsorbents on the removal of phosphorus and high rate MBR for organic removal.