Abstract
To achieve higher organic loading with submerged membrane separation activated sludge (SMAS) process, effects of membrane pore size ranging from 0.03μEm to 0.4μEm on membrane fouling was investigated using pilot-scale plant with synthetic wastewater. The putative membrane foulants, colloidal microbial products (CMP) were similarly rejected regardless of the membrane pore sizes, while the increase in transmembrane pressure (TMP) with the 0.4μEm was much higher as compared to the 0.1μEm. Since the fouling was irreversible through physical cleaning operation in all the case, it was thought that CMP was trapped inside the membrane structure, and that larger pore size as 0.4μEm traps larger amount of CMP, causing greater TMP. With the membrane pore size of either 0.03μEm or 0.1μEm, continuous operation of SMAS for almost two months was possible, but requires further investigation for more stable operation.
