Abstract
Energy optimization in Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) is essential to facilitate the widespread adoption of this technology for wastewater treatment. This research examined various operating conditions and commonly employed fouling mitigation techniques to assess their impact on the lifespan of porous alumina microfiltration membranes and energy consumption over the operation cycles in MBRs with backwashing. Parameters studied include frequency of backwashing tcycle (30 to 120 min), backwashing duration tbackwashing (1 to 10 min), backwash flow rate Qbackwashing (1 to 5 mL/min), filtration flow rate Qfiltration (1 to 3 mL/min), air circulation flow rate Qair, module (0 to 300 mL/min), and MLSS (2000 to 8000 mg/l). Filtration resistance, measured over the operation time, exhibited a typical two–stage behavior. Membrane fouling rates varied under different conditions. Operations showing lesser fouling rates were not always found to be the most energy efficient. Energy consumption during the filtration period Efiltration is the major contributor to the total energy consumption Etotal.
