Comparing Wastewater Treatment Technologies

Membrane technology has led to a revolutionary new concept in wastewater treatment.  Membranes act as a barrier to bacteria and suspended solids to produce a low turbidity treatment plant effluent with very low bacteria counts.  When used in a membrane bioreactor PURON^® submerged membrane modules are useful in treating both municipal wastewater and wastewater from numerous industrial sources such as paper mills, beverage ingredient processors, slaughterhouses, food processors, chemical plants, tank truck cleaning operations, etc.

To understand the revolutionary potential of MBR technology it is helpful to first consider how a conventional wastewater treatment plant operates.  Each conventional plant consists of three basic parts:



The pretreatment step involves screening out coarse materials. In the biological treatment step, bacteria acts upon the organic materials to break them down. The clarifier is used in the final step to separate water from the sludge though sedimentation. Sedimentation, however, is often incomplete with regard to microorganisms. Typically the discharge from a conventional plant will contain 10,000 to 100,000 microbes per milliliter.

PURON^® Membrane Bioreactor

 

Membrane bioreactors, simply called MBRs, offer the optimum solution.  The membrane modules are submerged in the activated sludge to combine the biological step and the solid-liquid separation step into a single process.

Since the membrane acts as a barrier to microorganisms, the effluent quality is much better than that produced by a conventional plant.  Also, the membrane barrier eliminates the secondary clarifier and allows the activated sludge to be more highly concentrated.  This reduces the capacity needed for biological tanks, saving space and money.

PURON® module

Submerged PURON® module

Benefits of Membrane Bioreactor Technology

• Improved Water Quality
• Option for Wastewater Reuse
• Lowers Capital Costs
• Reduces Plant Space Requirements
• Fewer Operational Problems

Fewer Operational Problems

MBR technology provides numerous advantages when compared to traditional wastewater treatment.