I-Corps: Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor for Sustainable Wastewater Management

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是利用厌氧微生物开发更可持续的废水处理系统的潜力。大多数城市污水是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，约占废水管理总运营成本的30%，用于运行电动鼓风机向微生物池提供扩散空气/氧气。厌氧微生物还可以破坏污染物，不需要添加氧气，并产生可再生燃料甲烷作为副产品。使用该技术的大型污水处理厂产生的沼气可以用于建筑物或作为生物压缩天然气用于车辆燃料，以满足纤维素运输燃料的目标。此外，提出的技术可能有助于其他应用的发展，如工业废水处理。这个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、向下流动循环速度为11 m.h-1和聚合物管状膜。以往的研究结果表明，DFF在低环境温度下对低强度废水具有较高的有机物去除率（95%），可能是一种有效的城市污水处理替代方案。此外，能量需求可以低于其他处理系统。初步结果还表明，拟议的技术可以处理城市污水，并获得水的特性，以安全地将清洁水排放到湖泊和河流，同时产生甲烷气体作为可再生能源使用。目标客户可能包括大型市政污水处理厂，其设施规划正在考虑未来的升级。小型污水处理厂，不执行设施规划的处理厂或其他客户（例如，小型包装厂应用，高速公路休息站，游轮和工业废水厂）也可能受益。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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.