Microbial relevant fouling in membrane bioreactors : influencing factors, characterization, and fouling control

• Main Authors: Wu, Bing, Fane, Anthony Gordon
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/97901; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/10913
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Microorganisms in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) play important roles on degradation of organic/inorganic substances in wastewaters, while microbial deposition/growth and microbial product accumulation on membranes potentially induce membrane fouling. Generally, there is a need to characterize membrane foulants and to determine their relations to the evolution of membrane fouling in order to identify a suitable fouling control approach in MBRs. This review summarized the factors in MBRs that influence microbial behaviors (community compositions, physical properties, and microbial products). The state-of-the-art techniques to characterize biofoulants in MBRs were reported. The strategies for controlling microbial relevant fouling were discussed and the future studies on membrane fouling mechanisms in MBRs were proposed.