• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2012

Up-flow multi-layer bioreactor (UMBR) is a hybrid system using dual sludge that consists of an up-flow multi-layer bioreactor as anaerobic/anoxic suspended growth microorganisms followed by an aeration tank. The UMBR acts as a primary settling tank, anaerobic/anoxic reactor, thickener which requires low energy due to mixing by up-flow stream. This study focused on using a pilot UMBR plant with capacity of 20-30 $m^3$/day for domestic wastewater in HCMC. HRTs of UMBR and aeration tank were 4.8 h and 7.2 h, respectively. The average MLSS of UMBR ranged from 10,000-13,600 mg/l SS. Internal recycle rate and sludge return were 200-300% and 150-200%, respectively. The results obtained from this study at flow rate of 20 $m^3$/day showed that removal of COD, SS, TKN, N-$NH_4$, T-N, and color were 91%, 87%, 86%, 80%, 91% and 91%, respectively.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.133-140
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• 2012

The overall performance of BNR-MBR, so-called Anoxic-Anaerobic-Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor ($A^3$-MBR), developed for nutrient removal was studied to determine the efficiencies and mechanisms under different solid retention time (SRT). The reactor was fed by synthetic high-rise building wastewater with a COD:N:P ratio of 100:10:2.5. The results showed that TKN, TN and phosphorus removal by the system was higher than 95%, 93% and 80%, respectively. Nitrogen removal in the system was related to the simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SND) reaction which removed all nitrogen forms in aerobic condition. SND reaction in the system occurred because of the large floc size formation. Phosphorus removal in the system related to the high phosphorus content in bacterial cells and the little effects of nitrate nitrogen on phosphorus release in the anaerobic condition. Therefore, high quality of treated effluent could be achieved with the $A^3$-MBR system for various water reuse purposes.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.207-223
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• 2011

Supported Liquid Membranes (SLMs) have been widely studied as feasible alternative to traditional processes for separation and purification of various chemicals both from aqueous and organic matrices. This technique offers various advantages like active transport, possibility to use expensive extractants, high selectivity, low energy requirements and minimization of chemical additives. SLMs are not yet used at large scale in industrial applications, because of the low stability. In the present paper, after a brief overview of the state of the art of SLM technology the facilitated transport mechanisms of SLM based separation is described, also introducing the small and the big carrousel models, which are employed for transport modeling. The main operating parameters (selectivity, flux and permeability) are introduced. The problems related to system stabilization are also discussed, giving particular attention to the influence of membrane materials (solid membrane support and organic liquid membrane (LM) phase). Various approaches proposed in literature to enhance SLM stability are also reviewed. Modification of the solid membrane support, creating an additional layer on membrane surface, which acts as a barrier to LM phase loss, increases system stability, but the membrane permeability, and then the flux, decrease. Stagnant Sandwich Liquid Membrane (SSwLM), an implementation of the SLM system, results in both high flux and stability compared to SLM. Finally, possible large scale applications of SLMs are also reviewed, evidencing that if the LM separation process is opportunely carried out (no production of byproducts), it can be considered as a green process.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.183-195
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• 2014

The efficiency of two metal ions (cadmium, zinc) removal from aqueous solutions by ultrafiltration (UF) and Polymer Enhanced Ultrafiltration (PEUF) processes were investigated in this work. The UF and PEUF studies were carried out using an ultrafiltration tangential cell system equipped with 5.000 MWCO regenerated cellulose. A water-soluble polymer: the polyacrylic acid (PAA) was used as complexant for PEUF experiments. The effects of transmembrane pressure, pH, metal ions and loading ratio on permeate fluxes and metal ions removals were evaluated. In UF process, permeate fluxes increase linearly with increasing pH for different transmembrane pressure, which may be the consequence of the formation of soluble metal hydroxyl complexes in the aqueous phase. In PEUF process, above pH 5.0, the Cd(II) retention reaches a plateau at 90% and Zn(II) at 80% for L = 5. Also, cadmium retention at different L is greater than zinc retention at pH varying from 5.0 to 9.0. In a mixture solution, cadmium retention is higher than zinc for different loading ratio, this is due to interactions between carboxylic groups of PAA and metal ions and more important with cadmium ions.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.171-182
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• 2014

Organic compounds are adsorbed on RO/NF membranes, and the adsorption may influence the rejection of organic compounds by the membranes. Because almost RO/NF membranes are composite membranes, the results obtained by adsorption experiment with using membrane pieces are unable to avoid the influence by the support membrane. In this work, the interaction between membrane polymer and organic solutes was examined by an inverse HPLC methodology. Poly (m-phenylenetrimesoylate), the constituent of skin layer of RO/NF membranes, was coated on silica gel particles and used as a stationary phase for HPLC. When water was used as a mobile phase, almost hydrophilic aliphatic compounds were not effectively adsorbed on the stationary phase, although hydrophobic compounds were slightly adsorbed. The results indicated that the hydrophilic aliphatic compounds are useful probe solutes to examine the molecular sieving effect of a membrane. When water was used as a mobile phase, the aromatic compounds were strongly retained, and therefore $CH_3CN/H_2O$ (30/70) was used as a mobile phase. It was revealed that the adsorption of aromatic compounds was controlled by stacking between solute and polymer and was hindered by non-planar structure and substituents.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.207-219
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• 2014

Fouling is one of the critical factors associated with the application of membrane technology in treating palm oil mill effluent (POME), due to the presence of high concentration of solid organic matter, oil, and grease. In order to overcome this, chemical cleaning is needed to enhance the effectiveness of membranes for filtration. The potential use of sodium hydroxide (NaOH), sodium chloride (NaCl), hydrochloric acid (HCl), ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and ultrapure water (UPW) as cleaning agents have been investigated in this study. It was found that sodium hydroxide is the most powerful cleaning agent, the optimum conditions that apply are as follows: 3% for the concentration of NaOH, $45^{\circ}C$ for temperature solution, 5 bar operating pressure, and solution pH 11.64. Overall, flux recovery reached 99.5%. SEM images demonstrated that the membrane surface after cleaning demonstrated similar performance to fresh membranes. This is indicative of the fact that NaOH solution is capable of removing almost all of the foulants from PES membranes.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.197-205
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• 2014

For the first time in Bangladesh, a bench scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) unit was tested in treating a textile wastewater in the industry premises of EOS Textile Mills LTD, Dhaka for three months. The performance of the unit was compared with that of the conventional activated sludge treatment plant, which is in operation in the same premises. The COD and BOD removal efficiency of the MBR unit reached to around 90% and 80% respectively in 20 days whereas the removal efficiency of the conventional treatment plant was as low as 40-50% and 38-40% respectively. The outlet COD and the BOD level for the MBR unit remained stable in spite of the fluctuation in the feed value, while the conventional effluent treatment plant (ETP) failed to keep any stabilized level. The performance of the MBR unit was much superior to that of the functional ETP and the water treated by the MBR system can meet disposal standard.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.841-848
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• 2009

A simple model to analyze non-linear density-wave instability in a sodium-cooled helically coiled steam generator is developed. The model is formulated with three regions with moving boundaries. The homogeneous equilibrium flow model is used for the two-phase region and the shell-side energy conservation is also considered for the heat flux variation in each region. The proposed model is applied to the analysis of two-phase instability in a JAEA (Japan Atomic Energy Agency) 50MWt No.2 steam generator. The steady state results show that the proposed model accurately predicts the six cases of operating temperatures on the primary and secondary sides. The sizes of three regions, the secondary side pressure drop according to the flow rate, and the temperature variation in the vertical direction are also predicted well. The temporal variations of the inlet flow rate according to the throttling coefficient, the boiling and superheating boundaries and the pressure drop in the two-phase and superheating regions are obtained from the unsteady analysis.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.323-336
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• 2017

The main challenge in many applications of acetic acid is acid dehydration and its recovery from wastewater streams. Therefore, the performance of polyamide thin film composite is evaluated to separate acetic acid from water. To reach this goal, the formation of polyamide layer on polysulfone support membrane was investigated via interfacial polymerization (IP) of meta-phenylenediamine (MPD) in water with trimesoyl chloride (TMC) in hexane. Also, the effect of synthesis conditions, such as concentration of monomers and curing temperature on separation of acetic acid from water were investigated by reverse osmosis process. Moreover, the separation mechanism was discussed. The solute permeation was carried out under applied pressure of 5 bar at $25^{\circ}C$. Surface properties of TFC membrane were characterized by ATR-FTIR, SEM and AFM. The performance test indicated that 3.5 wt% of MPD, 0.35 wt% of TMC and curing temperature of $75^{\circ}C$ are the optimum conditions. Moreover, the permeate flux was $4.3{\frac{L}{m^2\;h}}$ and acetic acid rejection was about 43% at these conditions.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.337-353
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• 2017

Membrane fouling at different solids retention times (SRT) (7, 12 and 20 days) was studied under well-controlled conditions in a laboratory-scale aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor under constant biomass concentration using a synthetic high strength wastewater. An increase in SRT was found to improve membrane performance and this correlated to changes in the total production of bound extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and the composition and properties of bound EPS using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and floc sizes. A larger amount of total bound EPS was found at the lowest SRT (7 days) tested but the ratio of proteins (PN) to carbohydrates (CH) in bound EPS increased with an increase in SRT. Similarly, the quantity of soluble microbial products (SMP) decreased with an increase in SRT and the SMP PN/CH ratio increased with an increase in SRT. SMP concentrations positively correlated to the percentage of membrane pore blocking resistance. The quantity of total bound EPS and total SMP positively corresponded to the membrane fouling rate, while the PN/CH ratio in the bound EPS and SMP negatively correlated to the membrane fouling rate. The results show that both the quantity and composition of bound EPS and SMP and floc sizes are important in controlling membrane fouling.