Performance of a submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor with forward osmosis membrane for low-strength wastewater treatment.

A submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactor with forward osmosis membrane (FO-AnMBR) was operated at 25 °C for the treatment of synthetic wastewater. As the experiment progressed, the water flux reduced due to the membrane fouling and the increasing salinity in the reactor, and achieved at around 3.5 LMH in one cycle. It was worth noting that the level of salinity in the reactor was not a concern in terms of inhibition or toxic effects on the biological processes. The FO-AnMBR process exhibited greater than 96% removal of organic carbon, nearly 100% of total phosphorus and 62% of ammonia-nitrogen, respectively, suggesting a better removal efficiency than the conventional anaerobic membrane bioreactor. The methane and carbon dioxide compositions achieved concentrations of around 65%-78% and 22%-35%, respectively; and no obvious difference in the biogas composition was observed with the changes of conductivity. With respect to the methane yield, an average value of 0.21 L CH4 g(-1) COD was obtained, exhibiting the feasibility of energy recovery by this FO-AnMBR system. Additionally, an increase in the salinity enhanced the accumulation of soluble microbial products, especially for the proteins with 88.9% increment as the conductivity increased from 1.2 to 17.3 ms cm(-1). In contrast, a relatively stable concentration of extracellular polymer substances (EPS) was observed, indicating that the influence of conductivity on EPS cannot be directly correlated.