HYBRID FILTRATION/AERATION PANEL FOR MEMBRANE FOULING CONTROL IN ACTIVATED SLUDGE FILTRATION

Membrane filtration has been used widely in water and wastewater treatment. But implementing the membrane technology for activated sludge filtration, like in membrane bioreactor has a major drawback of membrane fouling. Despite showing some success, efficacy of air bubbles can be further improved by maximizing the impact of shear-rates onto the deposited foulants. The primary objective of this research is to develop a horizontal multi stacked membrane panel that function not only for liquid filtration, but also as air bubbling with air bubbling diffuser to enhance membrane fouling control. In this assess the effect of cross flow velocity, aeration and aeration rate on membrane fouling control in activated sludge filtration has been analysed. Results show that enhancing cross-flow velocity, without introducing aeration, improve steady state permeance from 296 l m-2 h-1 bar-1 at crossflow velocity of 3 cm/s.. This project do covers the effect of different aeration rate on the multi staked horizontal module and finalizing a suitable aeration rate for the process. Introduction of aeration in the system at 0.25 L/min is very effective to remove reversible fouling shows consistent performance under all tested cross-flow velocity and maintain the permeability at 246 l m-2 h-1 bar-1.