Anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment: mechanisms, fouling control, novel configurations, and future perspectives

Abstract

As the world focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and recovering energy from sewage, technologies that can recover energy and reuse wastewater are becoming increasingly important. Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) technology has recently attracted attention, as it can achieve energy recovery and yields high-quality effluent. However, the large-scale commercial application of AnMBRs requires that certain barriers be overcome, including membrane pollution and dissolved methane recovery. In this review article, we summarize the basic principles of anaerobic wastewater digestion and discuss the excellent performance of AnMBRs for wastewater treatment. Various factors, membrane types, and pollution are discussed, and control strategies for dealing with membrane pollution are put forward. In addition, a variety of new AnMBRs are described that may better control membrane pollution. Finally, future research directions for AnMBRs are presented to promote the large-scale integrated application of AnMBRs for industrial wastewater treatment.