Anaerobic membrane bioreactors for sludge digestion

Anaerobic membrane bioreactors for sludge digestion: Current status and future perspectives

Abdelrahman, Amr Mustafa (Istanbul Technical University)
Ozgun, Hale (Istanbul Technical University)
Dereli, Recep Kaan (Istanbul Technical University; University College Dublin)
Isik, Onur (Istanbul Technical University)
Ozcan, Onur Yilmaz (Istanbul Technical University)
van Lier, J.B. (TU Delft Sanitary Engineering)
Ozturk, Izzet (Istanbul Technical University)
Ersahin, Mustafa Evren (Istanbul Technical University)

2020

Excess sewage sludge in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is regarded the key energy source for achieving energy neutral WWTPs. The anaerobic digestion process transforms sludge-organic matter into methane, which subsequently can be used for heat and electricity production. Conventional anaerobic digesters (ADs) have been used for sludge treatment for many decades, requiring high energy and providing poor effluent quality. Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology exhibits a promising option for treatment of high solids concentration streams including sludge. AnMBRs result in an increase in digestion efficiency and enhancement in effluent quality at small footprints. AnMBRs have the potential to reduce capital and operational costs, and produce more energy in comparison to conventional ADs. Thus, energy neutral or positive operation can be achieved with AnMBRs. Besides, nutrient recovery or direct use of permeate will become more feasible in AnMBRs compared to use of sludge supernatant in ADs. However, membrane fouling can limit the feasibility of AnMBRs for sludge treatment, which requires further research. This review paper critically evaluates the current status of AnMBR technology for municipal sludge treatment discussing the effect of different factors on treatment and membrane filtration performances. Furthermore, future research opportunities to enhance applicability of this technology are addressed. (Figure presented.).

Anaerobic membrane bioreactor
energy
fouling
sewage sludge
sludge treatment

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:45a669ad-b2ca-47dc-822d-0b77f8717d72

https://doi.org/10.1080/10643389.2020.1780879

2020-12-22

1064-3389

Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 51 (2021) (18), 2119-2157

Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2020 Amr Mustafa Abdelrahman, Hale Ozgun, Recep Kaan Dereli, Onur Isik, Onur Yilmaz Ozcan, J.B. van Lier, Izzet Ozturk, Mustafa Evren Ersahin