Effect of magnetic powder on membrane fouling mitigation and microbial community/composition in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for municipal wastewater treatment

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Feb:249:377-385. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.10.027. Epub 2017 Oct 10.

Authors

Yi Liu¹, Qiang Liu², Jixiang Li³, Huu Hao Ngo⁴, Wenshan Guo⁴, Jiajun Hu⁵, Min-Tian Gao⁵, Qiyuan Wang⁶, Yuansheng Hou⁷

Affiliations

¹ Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China; Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
² Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
³ Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201210, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: lijixiang@sari.ac.cn.
⁴ Centre for Technology in Water and Wastewater, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NWS 2007, Australia.
⁵ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Bio-Energy Crops, School of Life Sciences, Shanghai University, Shanghai 200444, China.
⁶ FuXing Senior High School, Shanghai 200434, China.
⁷ QingHai Salt Lake Industry Company Limited, Geermu 816000, China.

PMID: 29055214
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.10.027

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the usefulness of magnetic powder addition in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for membrane fouling mitigation and its effect on microbial community and composition. The comparison between the two MBRs (one with magnetic powder (MAS-MBR) and one without magnetic powder (C-MBR)) was carried out to treat synthetic municipal wastewater. Results showed that bioflocculation and adsorption of magnetic powder contributed only minimally to membrane fouling mitigation while the slower fouling rate might be ascribed to magnetic bio-effect. The macromolecules (larger than 500 kDa and 300-500 kDa) of soluble microbial product from the MAS-MBR were reduced by 24.06% and 11.11%, respectively. High-throughput sequencing demonstrated the most abundant genera of biofilm sludge indicated lower abundance in bulk sludge from the MAS-MBR compared to the C-MBR. It is possible that less membrane fouling is connected to reductions in large molecules and pioneer bacteria from bulk sludge.

Keywords: Adsorption; Bioflocculation; Magnetic powder; Membrane fouling; Microbial community.

MeSH terms

Biofilms
Bioreactors*
Magnetics
Membranes, Artificial
Sewage
Wastewater*

Substances

Membranes, Artificial
Sewage
Waste Water