An Evidence-Based Survey on Full-Scale Membrane Biological Reactors: Main Technical Features and Operational Aspects

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey on full-scale membrane biological reactors (MBRs) wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Italy. Alongside the main technical characteristics of the Italian MBR plants, the opinions of the plant managers on the operational advantages and disadvantages are described. As reported by the MBR technology suppliers, approximately 290 MBR municipal or industrial WWTPs are in operation in Italy, out of which 242 were studied in this survey. Data from more than one hundred municipal WWTPs were collected; these account for a total capacity of about 2,000,000 population equivalent (PE), which corresponds to 3% of the total organic load treated by the Italian WWTPs with secondary and advanced treatment. Usually, small installations adopt the flat-sheet rather than hollow-fiber membrane configuration. The main reasons why the MBR technology has been preferred to other options are its potential to be used for increasing the treatment capacity of existing plants and its compactness. Moreover, the followed operational advantages have been highlighted: easiness to comply with the discharge limits, removal of pathogens without specific disinfection units, possibility of internal reuse of the effluent, and process automation. Membrane fouling and plant shutdown have been recorded as the most relevant troubles, the last one indeed occurring only occasionally or rarely.