In the present study, Conventional Membrane Bioreactor (C-MBR) and Modified Membrane Bioreactor (M-MBR) were run consequently to compare the fouling reduction through incorporated modification. M-MBR was developed by introducing a Self-forming dynamic membrane (SFDM) formed on a nylon cloth filter ahead of a flat sheet membrane. The coarse cloth filter and fine cloth filter had a pore size of 125 μm and 37 μm, respectively and it took 45 min and 12 min to form a dynamic membrane on them. The C-MBR experienced frequent fouling with cake layer resistance (RC) as the dominant one which contributed to 83.98% of total resistance (RT). Whereas in M-MBR the cake layer resistance (67.86% of RT) and pore blocking resistance (RP) (1.31% of RT) was less compared to C-MBR. The formed SFDM on nylon cloth filters led to the reduced RC and RP in M-MBR. Therefore, the operation of M-MBR was prolonged, which took 150 days to reach 8.6 KPa (0.057 KPa/day). Eventually, it was concluded that the modification made in this study significantly reduced the fouling.
Keywords: Conventional membrane bioreactor; Membrane fouling; Modified membrane bioreactor; SFDM; Sludge characteristics.
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