Membrane Bioreactor and Promising Application for Textile Industry in Vietnam

AbstractA pilot-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was developed in order to run two membrane modules in parallel for the treatment of model textile wastewater (MTDW). Two independently operated commercially available ultrafiltration membrane modules called UP150 from Microdyn-Nadir where tested in the same activated sludge tank over a period of 70 days for their removal efficiency of the MTDW. In general the results of both membrane modules are in very good agreement. The water permeability ranged between 20 – 50 L/(m2.h.bar). Typically, the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency indicated good biodegradation performance above 95%. The nitrification rate depended on the food to microorganism (F/M) ratio i.e. below 0.2kg COD/(kg MLSS.d) the system showed complete nitrification. However, the color rejection for the model dyes was only around 20% to 60% what can be attributed to the low biodegradability of these chemicals. The next step is to run the MBR with novel nanostructured membranes in parallel with the commercially available membrane to compare their performances. This study contributes to sustainable development in the textile industry by improving water quality of treated textile wastewater what helps to reduce fresh water consumption and pollutant discharge