I-Corps: Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor for Sustainable Wastewater Management

这个I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是使用厌氧微生物开发更可持续的废水处理系统。 大多数城市废水都是使用好氧生物技术处理的，其中微生物在消耗氧气的同时破坏污染物。添加氧气是非常昂贵的，并且可以代表运行电动鼓风机以向微生物罐供应扩散空气/氧气的总废水管理操作成本的约30%。 厌氧微生物也可以破坏污染物，不需要氧气添加，并产生可再生燃料，甲烷，作为副产品。使用所提出的技术从大型废水处理厂产生的沼气可用于建筑物或作为车辆燃料的生物压缩天然气，以满足纤维素运输燃料的目标。此外，所提出的技术可能有助于开发其他应用，如工业废水处理。该I-Corps项目是基于下流式过滤器（DFF）厌氧膜生物反应器处理城市污水的潜在发展。所提出的技术包括浮力介质、11 m.h-1的下流再循环速度和聚合物管状膜。研究表明，DFF在低温条件下对低浓度污水的有机物去除率可达95%以上，是城市污水处理的有效替代方案。此外，能量需求可以低于其他处理系统。 初步结果还表明，该技术可以处理城市污水，并获得水特性，以安全地将清洁水排放到湖泊和河流中，同时产生甲烷气体，用作可再生能源。目标客户可能包括正在考虑未来升级的大型市政污水处理厂。可能是小型废水处理厂、不执行设施规划的处理厂或其他客户（例如，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the potential development of a more sustainable wastewater treatment system using anaerobic microbes. Most municipal wastewater is treated using aerobic biotechnology in which microorganisms destroy pollutants while consuming oxygen. Adding the oxygen is very expensive and can represent about 30% of the total wastewater management operating cost to run electric blowers to supply diffused air/oxygen to tanks of microbes. Anaerobic microbes also can destroy pollutants, do not require oxygen addition, and produce renewable fuel, methane, as a by-product. The biogas generated from large wastewater treatment plants using the proposed technology may be used in buildings or as bio-compressed natural gas for vehicle fuel to meet cellulosic transportation fuel goals. In addition, the proposed technology may contribute to the development of other applications, such as industrial wastewater treatment. This I-Corps project is based on the potential development of the downflow filter (DFF) anaerobic membrane bioreactor to treat municipal wastewater. The proposed technology includes buoyant media, a downflow recycle velocity of 11 m.h-1 and a polymeric tubular membrane. Previous research results showed that the DFF may provide high organic removal rates (95%) of low-strength wastewater at low ambient temperature and may be an effective alternative for municipal wastewater treatment. Additionally, the energy requirement can be lower than in other treatment systems. The preliminary results also show the proposed technology may treat municipal wastewater and attain water characteristics to safely discharge clean water to lakes and rivers while producing methane gas to use as a renewable energy source. Target customers may include large municipal wastewater treatment plants where facilities planning for future upgrades is under consideration. It may be that small wastewater treatment plants, treatment plants not performing facility planning or other customers (e.g., small package plant applications, highway rest-stops, cruise ships, and industrial wastewater plants) may benefit also.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.