Investigation of the impact and fate of zinc oxide nano-particles on treatment performance of a membrane bioreactor system

• Main Author: Lee, Wen Yong
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68033
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The ever increasing daily use of engineered nano-particles (NPs) has led to heightened levels of these materials being released into wastewaters, ending up in wastewater treatment plants. The impacts that these NPs have on wastewater biological treatment, had intrigue substantial concerns in the recent years, however the effects of NPs on membrane bioreactor (MBR) performance remain ambiguous. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the long-term effects that zinc oxide nano-particles (ZnO-NPs) have on MBR, along with their fate within the system when continuously subjected to dosages of 1, 10 and 50mg/L ZnO-NPs. Over time, significant changes were observed in the sludge morphology, removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen and phosphorous. The use of MBR system could further improve removal of ZnO-NPs even at higher concentration, as more than 90% of ZnO-NPs were effectively removed through bio-sorption with the aid of membrane filtration.