Title: Oily wastewater treatment using membrane bioreactor

Authors: Mahdieh Safa; Iran Alemzadeh; Manouchehr Vossoughi

Addresses: Biochemical and Bioenvironmental Engineering Research Center, Oil and Chemical Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-6891, Azadi St., Tehran, Iran ' Biochemical and Bioenvironmental Engineering Research Center, Oil and Chemical Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-6891, Azadi St., Tehran, Iran ' Biochemical and Bioenvironmental Engineering Research Center, Oil and Chemical Engineering Department, Sharif University of Technology, P.O. Box 11365-6891, Azadi St., Tehran, Iran

Abstract: A novel implementation of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been studied in this paper. It is utilised as combination of rotating biological contractor (RBC) and an external membrane for oily wastewater treatment. The performance of MBR was compared with the standalone RBC. The RBC used in this investigation is the same one combined with the membrane to form the MBR. Wastewater biodegradability has been evaluated by two factors: chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH). They are both compared together for different hydraulic retention times (HRTs) and petroleum pollution concentrations in RBC and MBR. The ratio of TPH to COD of molasses has been varied between 0.2 to 0.8 at two HRTs of 18 and 24 h while the temperature, pH and dissolved oxygen were kept in the range of 20-25°C, 6.5-7.5, and 2-3.5 mg/L, respectively. Optimal TPH removal efficiency (99%) observed at TPH/COD = 0.6 and HRT = 24 h in MBR. The experimental results showed that MBR had higher treatment efficiency than RBC at all ratios and HRTs.

Keywords: biofilm; biological treatment; chemical oxygen demand; COD; membrane bioreactors; MBR; membrane fouling; oily wastewater; rotating biological contractor; RBC; total petroleum hydrocarbon; TPH; wastewater treatment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGW.2014.061024

International Journal of Global Warming, 2014 Vol.6 No.2/3, pp.295 - 302

Received: 10 Oct 2012
Accepted: 10 Apr 2013
Published online: 02 Jul 2014 *

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