Impact of suspended solids concentration on sludge filterability in Full-scale membrane bioreactors

The relation between activated sludge filterability and mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentration in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) is framed in a single hypothesis, explaining results seemingly contradictory. A total of 44 activated sludge samples were collected and analyzed on a variety of parameters, i.e. filterability, MLSS concentration, soluble microbial products (SMP) concentrations and particle size distribution in the range of 2-100 ?m and of 0.4-5.0 ?m. The sludge filterability was assessed by using the Delft Filtration Characterization method (DFCm). In order to investigate the impact of MLSS concentration, identical samples were diluted with permeate. Results showed that dilution of the samples led to an increased activated sludge filterability, but only when the starting MLSS concentration was below the apparent critical value of 10.5 g/L. As opposed, the filterability of sludge with MLSS concentrations above 10.5 g/L, and which was characterized by a moderate to good filtration quality, i.e. ?R20