Membrane Bioreactor for Nutrient Removal in Municipal Wastewater

Abstract

. A pilot-scale MBR plant was designed, commissioned and operated in parallel to the full-scale sequencing batch reactor (SBR) treatment system in Nova Scotia. Samples were collected from the effluent of both treatment processes over a 3-month period (June to August 2016) and were analyzed for biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), ammonia (NH3) and total phosphorus. It was found that the full-scale SBR plant was able to meet discharge regulations for all water quality parameters examined consistently except for total phosphorus. The pilot-scale MBR system was able to meet the discharge regulations for BOD and TSS consistently, and ammonia once stable operating conditions were met, but failed to meet the total phosphorus discharge water quality goals under the experimental set points and during the study period. A bench-scale coagulation study focusing on phosphorus removal was completed to complement the pilot MBR plant.