Assessment of nutrient removal and scaling potentiality of nanofiber membrane bioreactor treating synthetic wastewater

A closed loop submerged flat sheet Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) nanofiber aerobic, anoxic Membrane Bio-Reactor (MBR) established to treat synthetic wastewater that mimics the conventional wastewater, based on nutrient removal such as nitrogen as well as phosphorus. In addition, the possibility of scaling was also evaluated to determine the extent of inorganic fouling towards MBR operations and performance standards. Several underlying conditions as well as operating parameters were monitored and regulated constantly to maintain the removal efficiency of the MBR in terms of nutrient degradation, as well as maximizing the output via investigating the fouling tendencies. The results from Ion Chromatography (IC) for nutrient removal shown that the submerged flat sheet PVDF nanofiber MBR had the capability to achieve approximately 98% in nitrate-N and 85% in phosphate-P removal, which was relatively stable. Slow rate of cultivating mixed liquor biomass was interrupted by the effect of sludge bulking phenomena, where recirculation rate had been amplified by 4 times to compensate for the loss in the mixed liquor biomass. The combined Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy and Energy Dispersive X-ray (FESEM-EDX) had provided vital acumen towards the fouling characteristics of the flat sheet PVDF nanofiber membranes that had been under operation for prolonged hours within MBR, which had deduce that fouling via inorganic constituents were minimal that were coherent to the results derived from the hardness assessment of the scaling effect. This Final Year Project (FYP) analyze the functionality of the submerged flat sheet PVDF nanofiber MBR targeting on nutrient removal, fouling tendency that set forth important milestones, from initiation phase to post initiation phases, the variations made towards the influent source, modifications of the design MBR setup, as well as overseeing the entire MBR systems both intrinsically and extrinsically.Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering