Stable operation of MBR under high permeate flux

Permeate flux plays a critical role on the stable operation of membrane bioreactor (MBR) system for municipal wastewater treatment. The current commercially available submerged MBR systems, Zenon, Kobota, and Huber, etc. maintained their permeate fluxes at about 20–30 LMH to minimize the fouling potential of the membranes. A pilot scale MBR plant using HYDRASub®/Sterapore SADF® PVDF membrane module was stably operated at flux as high as 35 LMH for about 1 year by optimizing the operating condition of MBR system. The applied high permeate flux also resulted in low specific energy consumption per unit product water. This paper introduced the performance of membrane operated at high flux and discussed the factors affecting the stable operation of MBR. By applying the operating condition to an actual MBR plant, the specific energy consumption could reach a very low level, about 0.46 kWh/m3.