Municipal Wastewater Treatment Using a UASB Coupled with Cross-Flow Membrane Filtration

• Published in: Journal of environmental engineering (New York, N.Y.) Vol. 135; no. 2; pp. 86 - 91
• Main Authors: An, YingYu, Yang, FengLin, Bucciali, Benjamin, Wong, FookSin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Reston, VA American Society of Civil Engineers 01.02.2009
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Exact sciences and technology; General purification processes; Pollution; TECHNICAL PAPERS; Urban and domestic wastes; Wastes; Wastewaters; Water treatment and pollution; Singapore; Methane; Membranes; Municipal wastes; Fouling; Filtration; Scale effect; Urban waste; Wastewater management; Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor; Polishing; Biogas; Crossflow; Cleaning; Retention time; Waste water; Anaerobe; Membrane filtration; Urban waste water; Waste water purification; Strength; Anaerobic treatment
• ISSN: 0733-9372; 1943-7870
• DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9372(2009)135:2(86)

A pilot scale up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) coupled with cross-flow membrane filtration was used to treat low strength municipal wastewater in Singapore. The application of membrane filtration as a polishing unit of UASB effluent could produce better effluent quantity than conventional UASB. In this research, with gradually reducing hydraulic retention time from 10.0 to 5.5 h , membrane effluent was able to meet the more stringent effluent criterion over the whole experiment. Simultaneously, biogas yield increased from 61.8 to 120.7 mL∕g CODremoved , in which methane percentages were also increased from 59.3 to 65.2%, respectively. Furthermore, the results of anaerobic membrane filtration showed that there were three different methods could effectively mitigate rapid membrane fouling and maintain trans-membrane pressure as low and stable as possible. These would reduce membrane cleaning frequency and prolong membrane life span.