Treatment of Real Paper-Recycling Wastewater in a Novel Hybrid Airlift Membrane Bioreactor (HAMBR) for Simultaneous Removal of Organic Matter and Nutrients

In this study, a novel integrated Hybrid Airlift Membrane Bioreactor (HAMBR) composed of oxic, anoxic and anaerobic zones was developed to simultaneously remove organic matter and nitrogen from real paper-recycling wastewater. The removal efficiencies of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), ammonium, nitrite, nitrate and Total Nitrogen (TN) for permeate and supernatant were in the range of 88-99%, 54-83%, 70-90%, 65-95% and 61-90%, respectively. In addition, the membrane fouling was evaluated by Trans-Membrane Pressure (TMP) monitoring during experimental period at a constant flux of 12 L/m2h, and the rate of TMP increase was 1.75 mbar/day. The results showed that the hybrid airlift membrane bioreactor can be applied effectively to simultaneous removal of organic and nutrient from real wastewater and the performance of the membrane bioreactor was satisfactory in terms of resistance against membrane fouling phenomenon, which is an important parameter during HAMBR operation.