WERF:Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor for Low Temperature Domestic Wastewater Treatment

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1604069SkerlosSustainable water management is increasingly important for utilities and is driving efforts to reduce energy consumption and residuals production in domestic wastewater treatment without compromising effluent quality. Compared with conventional aerobic biological treatment, anaerobic biological treatment produces methane (a renewable energy source), generates a fraction of the residuals and provides substantial energy savings. At the same time, membrane bioreactors have become increasingly popular for domestic wastewater treatment because they provide superior effluent quality and play an important role in water reuse. The objective of this proposal is to fundamentally change reactor designs so that they can treat domestic wastewater at low temperature with low flow rates.Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors combine the benefits of anaerobic biological treatment (energy production) and membrane separation (excellent effluent quality). However, previous research by the PIs has shown that conventional Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors are not suitable for temperatures typically found in the United States during much of the year (e.g., below 15 oC) primarily due to net positive greenhouse gas emissions. Their research has also shown that anaerobic biofilm systems coupled with membrane filtration, i.e., Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors), have the potential to overcome low temperature limitations of Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors. This proposal ambitiously but realistically calls for the first Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors to be researched and validated, achieving high quality effluent, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and net positive energy production. The research proposed here, has four science and engineering objectives: (1) Establish operating parameters and characterize performance of the Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors at 15°C and 8-h hydraulic retention time. (2) Reduce hydraulic retention time and temperature, and, examine sulfate impacts on system performance. (3) Understand mechanisms for methanogenic activity within the Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor system. (4) Conduct Life Cycle Cost and Life Cycle Environmental Assessments to verify the economic and environmental sustainability of the technology. The research objectives will bring a unique design perspective to Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor research that combines aspects of system design (e.g., hydraulic retention time, biofilm attachment media, low energy membrane filtration, etc.), with microbial analyses (e.g., high throughput DNA and RNA sequencing, monitoring of functional gene expression, etc.) and treatment performance analysis (e.g. chemical oxygen demand, volatile fatty acid, sulfate, biogas production, biogas methane content, etc.). The design process will be driven by the results of Life Cycle Environmental Assessments and Life Cycle Costs, which will maximize environmental improvements while minimizing cost. The overall systems-based design approach will ultimately ease the transfer of Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors technology into practice. This research represents a novel Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor technology with the potential to bring an economically viable treatment technology to domestic wastewater treatment in temperate climates while producing net positive energy and net negative greenhouse gas emissions. Research results from lab scale efforts supported in this grant will be transferred directly to a local Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor pilot plant with significant potential to lead to further developments and piloting of Biofilm-Enhanced Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor technology, including the transition into practice through interactions with industrial partners and consulting firms. Additional broader impacts from this work include: (1) integration of research and education through involvement of undergraduate students in research and system design/fabrication, (2) incorporation of research findings in courses taught by the PIs, (3) knowledge transfer through partnership with utilities, corporations and consultants, and, (4) dissemination of research results through conference presentations, peer-reviewed journal articles, and seminar and symposium presentations. The PIs also intend to work with the UM Living Building Challenge student team on their home/neighborhood-scale wastewater treatment prototypes.