Studying the Effects of Organic and Hydraulic Shock Loads on the Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) By Using GPS-X Mathematical Model

Abstract

Membrane-based systems (MBR) used in wastewater treatment have many advantages over conventional activated sludge processes. They have proven to be very effective in removing organic and inorganic contaminants as well as biological entities from water. The objective of this work is to propose an optimal operation of the bioreactor after having detailed in the relationships between the nature of the sludge, its conditions is obtaining the performance of the membrane using a simulation software (GPS-X). The effects of organic and hydraulic shock loads on the MBR system were also studied. The GPS-X simulation program was used in this study to simulate the membrane bioreactor setup. The BOD removal system we used was 78%. In addition, the MBR system has a significant capacity due to the hydraulic shock load of the operation and the process efficiency for the MBR installation due to this shock load based on BOD removal was reduced up to 65%. The MBR system has a good ability to handle the organic shock loads of the operation with no significant loss in treatment efficiency. The treatment efficiency of the MBR system, due to organic shock loads based on BOD removal, decreased slightly to 80%, however, it is shown how their properties determine the extent of sludge fouling in the membrane. Based on these results, operational conditions favoring a reduction of fouling are proposed.