Comparison of Filtration Characteristics of Activated Sludge Between MBR and HMBR

Abstract

The hybrid membrane bioreactor with porous suspended carriers (HMBR) and general membrane bioreactor (MBR) were operated in parallel conditions by feeding the same wastewater. The filterability of sludge suspension in both bioreactors were investigated and compared by dead-end filtration. Several aspects of sludge suspension such as filtration resistance, particle size and fractionation were discussed. During long-term operation the filtration resistances rose gradually in the early stage (about 100 days) and then increased rapidly. The granulometric analysis revealed that the mean particle size of sludge suspension of HMBR decreased more sharply than that of MBR Dead-end filtrations experiments indicated that the resistance increasing rates of three portions of sludge suspension were in following reducing order: supernatant, dissolved organics, microbial floes. Compared to MBR HMBR was efficient in controlling membrane fouling.