Innovative Eco Biofilter/Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) Technology for Community Wastewater Recycling

Abstract Eco Biofilter/Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) has been developed in this research as a compact wastewater treatment for community wastewater recycling. The system installs the baked clay filter as eco-friendly biomedia in order to replace plastic media that can cause plastic pollution to aquatic environment. Ceramic microfiltration membrane (MF) with the pore size of 0.4 micron is submerged inside the Eco Biofilter/Membrane Bioreactor. The system received wastewater from a community area in Chiang Rak Yai, Pathumthani province, that is located in the east of Chaophraya River. The community consists of 350 households, who regularly use water from the Chaophraya River. It is a very urgent issue to develop the appropriate wastewater treatment to protect the river water quality for water supply production. At present, the overall water quality of the Chaophraya River is falling into category 4, which is in poor water quality level. In this research, the developed Eco biofilter/MBR technology can significantly reduce BOD, oil&grease, TSS and FCB. It also could achieve stable treatment performance as above 70% removal efficiencies for Total Phosphorus and Kjeldahl Nitrogen. Moreover, the effluent quality after the treatment meets international standard for agricultural water reuse purpose for food crops, processed food crops and non-food crop.