Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jul 25;13(8):690.
doi: 10.3390/membranes13080690.

Improvement of MBBR-MBR Performance by the Addition of Commercial and 3D-Printed Biocarriers

Dimitra C Banti  1   2 , Petros Samaras  2 , Eleni Kostopoulou  1 , Vassiliki Tsioni  1 , Themistoklis Sfetsas  1
Affiliations

Improvement of MBBR-MBR Performance by the Addition of Commercial and 3D-Printed Biocarriers

Dimitra C Banti et al. Membranes (Basel). .

Abstract

Moving bed biofilm reactor combined with membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) constitute a highly effective wastewater treatment technology. The aim of this research work was to study the effect of commercial K1 biocarriers (MBBR-MBR K1 unit) and 3D-printed biocarriers fabricated from 13X and Halloysite (MBBR-MBR 13X-H unit), on the efficiency and the fouling rate of an MBBR-MBR unit during wastewater treatment. Various physicochemical parameters and trans-membrane pressure were measured. It was observed that in the MBBR-MBR K1 unit, membrane filtration improved reaching total membrane fouling at 43d, while in the MBBR-MBR 13X-H and in the control MBBR-MBR total fouling took place at about 32d. This is attributed to the large production of soluble microbial products (SMP) in the MBBR-MBR 13X-H, which resulted from a large amount of biofilm created in the 13X-H biocarriers. An optimal biodegradation of the organic load was concluded, and nitrification and denitrification processes were improved at the MBBR-MBR K1 and MBBR-MBR 13X-H units. The dry mass produced on the 13X-H biocarriers ranged at 4980-5711 mg, three orders of magnitude larger than that produced on the K1, which ranged at 2.9-4.6 mg. Finally, it was observed that mostly extracellular polymeric substances were produced in the biofilm of K1 biocarriers while in 13X-H mostly SMP.

Keywords: 13X-halloysite biocarriers; 3D-printed biocarriers; EPS; Kaldnes K1 biocarriers; MBBR-MBR; SMP; biofilm; colloidal particles; membrane fouling; wastewater treatment.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
ΜΒΒR-MBR flow diagram in which: AT1: 1st aerated tank (VAT1 = 5 L), AT2: 2nd aerated tank (VAT2 = 5 L), MT: membrane tank (VMT = 5 L), A: air Compressor, DO: dissolved oxygen measuring device and PLC: programmable logic controller, T: temperature measurement, PI: pressure indicator, P1, P2, P3: peristaltic pumps.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Geometry of the A4 flat sheet microfiltration membrane module designed by the manufacturer (Kubota).
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Commercial Kaldnes Κ1 biocarriers and (b) 3D-printed biocarriers fabricated with 13Χ and halloysite.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Geometry and dimensions of the 3D printed 13X-H biocarriers as determined in AutoCAD.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Transmembrane pressure (TMP) in relation to operating time for the control MBBR-MBR, the MBBR-MBR K1, and the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Temperature in relation to operating time for the control MBBR-MBR, the MBBR-MBR K1, and the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 7
Figure 7
COD in relation to operating time for (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 8
Figure 8
NO3-N in relation to operating time for (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 9
Figure 9
NH4-N in relation to operating time for (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 9
Figure 9
NH4-N in relation to operating time for (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Total N in relation to operating time for (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Concentration of SMP proteins in the membrane tank (MT) and effluent in relation to operating time for the (a) control MBBR-MBR, (b) MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Concentration of SMP carbohydrates in the membrane tank (MT) and effluent in relation to operating time for the (a) control MBBR-MBR, (b) MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 13
Figure 13
Standard images of optical microscope for (a) the mixed liquor and (b) the effluent.
Figure 14
Figure 14
Percentage of colloidal particles with size ≤ 400 nm in relation to the operating time for the membrane tank (MT) and effluent in (a) the control MBBR-MBR, (b) the MBBR-MBR K1, and (c) the MBBR-MBR 13X-H.
Figure 15
Figure 15
Biocarriers with the formed biofilm on the (a) 6th day, (b) 27th day, and (c) on the 48th day of the MBBR-MBR K1 operation.
Figure 16
Figure 16
(a) SMP and (b) EPS protein and carbohydrates concentration in the biofilm of K1 biocarriers in relation to time.
Figure 17
Figure 17
Biocarriers with the formed biofilm on the (a) 11th day, (b) 15th day, and (c) 24th day of the MBBR-MBR 13X-H operation.
Figure 18
Figure 18
(a) SMP and (b) EPS protein and carbohydrates concentration in the biofilm of the 13X-H biocarriers in relation to time.
Figure 19
Figure 19
13X-H biocarriers’ fragments at the end of the experiment.
Figure 20
Figure 20
Relative abundance of the core families found on the biofilm of K1 ring and 3D-printed biocarriers at 30 days of operation.
Figure 21
Figure 21
Relative abundance of the core genera found on the biofilm of K1 ring and 3D-printed biocarriers at 30 days of operation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boltz J.P., Smets B.F., Rittmann B.E., van Loosdrecht M.C.M., Morgenroth E., Daigger G.T. From biofilm ecology to reactors: A focused review. Water Sci. Technol. 2017;75:1753–1760. doi: 10.2166/wst.2017.061. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Saidulu D., Majumder A., Gupta A.K. A systematic review of moving bed biofilm reactor, membrane bioreactor, and moving bed membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment: Comparison of research trends, removal mechanisms, and performance. J. Environ. Chem. Eng. 2021;9:106112. doi: 10.1016/j.jece.2021.106112. - DOI
    1. Leyva-Díaz J.C., Monteoliva-García A., Martín-Pascual J., Munio M.M., García-Mesa J.J., Poyatos J.M. Moving bed biofilm reactor as an alternative wastewater treatment process for nutrient removal and recovery in the circular economy model. Bioresour. Technol. 2020;299:122631. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2019.122631. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Liu J., Sun F., Zhang P., Zhou Y. Integrated powdered activated carbon and quorum quenching strategy for biofouling control in industrial wastewater membrane bioreactor. J. Clean. Prod. 2021;279:123551. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.123551. - DOI
    1. Kawan J.A., Abu Hasan H., Suja F., Jaafar O., Abd-Rahman R. A review on sewage treatment and polishing using moving bed bioreactor (MBBR) J. Eng. Sci. Technol. 2016;11:1098–1120. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.19104.17922. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources