Performance and extracellular polymers substance analysis of a pilot scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor for treating tetrahydrofuran pharmaceutical wastewater at different HRTs

Tetrahydrofuran (THF) is one of the most representative characteristics of pollutant in pharmaceutical industry usually has high biological toxicity, making it difficult to treat. In this study, a pilot scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) was employed to treat THF pharmaceutical wastewater under different hydraulic retention time (HRT). During the 80-day operating time, chemical oxygen demand (COD) and THF removal efficiencies reached 95.3% and 98.5% when HRT was above 24 h. Mixed liquid suspended solids (MLSS) and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids (MLVSS) in the attached sludge on membrane surface showed a trend of rising on first 28 days (48h-36 h) and then decreasing. Protein is the major component of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) independent of changes in HRT. The study concludes that THF pharmaceutical wastewater can be effectively remedied in the AnMBR system at low HRT.