COMPARISON BETWEEN MBR AND ACTIVATED SLUDGE

TECHNOLOGIES FOR WASTEWATER RECLAMATION AND REUSE.

(Barragn Sanchez et al.)
This research is based on the comparison between reclaimed wastewater quality from a MBR pilot
plant and a Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP), (10.000m3/day). The pilot plant is
anaerobic reactor with an immersed hollow fibre membrane and the WTP is a full-scale plant
(Activated Sludge + Biostyr) with tertiary treatment consisting of sand filters and UV light. The
interest in comparing both reclaimed wastewater from these two technologies is largely due to reduce
operating and maintenance costs and to obtain high quality effluent for reuse in a near golf course.
Description of the pilot plant : The pilot plant consists of three main parts : a feed tank , anaerobic
tank with a working volume of 225 litres and the permeate tank. Filtration module (ZeeWeed,
ZenonInc.Canada) is made of hollow fiber membranes 0.04 m pore size. Membranes are operated in
an outside inside filtration mode. Aeration is carried out from the bottom in order to reduce fouling.
Operating conditions: The feed water for the pilot plant is the pre-treatment outlet of LaBarrosa
WTP. Due to previous problems related with braids, the pilot plant pretreatment has been intensified
with three sieves of 2.0mm, 1.0mm and 0.2mm in order to avoid hair sand fibers. The fouling control
is carried out by reversing the flow through the membranes during 1min each 10minutes of filtration.
Net flow was set at 250L/day.VSS in the reactor was concentrated to about 6g/L.
Different analytical parameters are determined both in WTP effluent and pilot plant permeate: COD,
BOD5, TSS, VSS, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature, total nitrogen, total phosphorus,
respiration rates, Faecal Coliforms and E.Coli.
CONCLUSIONS
1. All analytical parameters measured in MBR effluent are better than those obtained from
conventional technology.
2. MBR produces high quality reclaimed effluent allowing to be re used in according to Spanish
Wastewater Reuse Standards for golf course irrigation.
3. Adequate MBR pretreatment is of paramount importance for MBR good performance.
4. The system operation is quite stable and reliable.