Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation by Aerobic Granulation Membrane Bioreactor (AGMBR)

本研究的主要目的是开发新型好氧颗粒膜生物反应器（AGMBR）技术用于污水处理和回用。AGMBR系统集成了创新的好氧颗粒化和膜过滤技术，以实现高效、低成本和低污染的工艺，用于处理和回收市政和工业废水。AGMBR采用好氧颗粒生物降解水污染物和膜过滤分离处理后的出水从好氧颗粒。 好氧颗粒化是近年来污水处理工艺的一项创新，它依赖于好氧颗粒的生理能力来分解废水中的有害污染物。该工艺的特点是在无载体条件下培养出由微生物细胞自聚集而成的致密好氧颗粒污泥。好氧颗粒污泥具有许多优点：结构坚固紧凑，沉降性能优异，生物量保留率高，自固定速度快，对冲击负荷和化学毒性的恢复力高，污泥产率低，有机负荷高，反应器体积和空间需求显著减少。 膜生物反应器（MBR）是另一项创新，它将活性污泥法与膜技术相结合，用于废水处理和回收。MBR具有占地面积小、生物量截留率高、出水水质好等优点。然而，MBR在结垢方面具有主要缺点。膜污染仍然是一个重大挑战，也是活性污泥膜生物反应器应用不广泛的主要原因。膜生物反应器（MBR）中活性污泥过滤过程中，膜污染降低了膜的渗透性，从而降低了处理水的通量，导致运行维护成本高、能耗高、利用困难、操作灵活性降低、膜的清洗和更换频繁。 在AGMBR系统中，由絮凝物形成好氧颗粒可以防止孔堵塞并减轻膜污染。这两种技术的整合提供了占地面积小、成本效益高、出水水质高、节能、对有毒化学品的高耐受性、污泥产量低、结垢少以及废水处理和回收的高可持续性的好处。因此，AGMBR是市政和工业应用的综合，可持续，创新的废水和回收解决方案。 新的AGMBR技术将最终有助于加拿大在环境保护和可持续发展方面的努力，并可在全球其他生物废水处理设施中开发和部署。该专利工艺可能广泛应用于加拿大和全球市场的废水处理行业。

The main objective of this research program is the development of novel aerobic granulation membrane bioreactor (AGMBR) technology for wastewater treatment and reclamation. The AGMBR system integrates innovative aerobic granulation and membrane filtration technologies to achieve a highly efficient, cost-effective and low fouling process for the treatment and reclamation of municipal and industrial wastewaters. An AGMBR employs aerobic granules to biodegrade water pollutants and membrane filtration to separate the treated effluent from aerobic granules. Aerobic granulation is a recent innovation in wastewater treatment processes and depends on the physiological capabilities of aerobic granules to break down the undesired pollutants in wastewater. The unique feature of the process is the cultivation of compact aerobic granular sludge developed from the self-aggregation of microbial cells without biocarriers. Aerobic granules have a number of advantages: a strong and compact structure, excellent settleability, high biomass retention, rapid self-immobilization, high resilience to shock loadings and chemical toxicity, low sludge yield, high organic loading and significant reductions in the reactor volume and space requirements. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) is another innovation that integrates an activated sludge process with membrane technology for wastewater treatment and reclamation. MBR has many advantages: small footprint, high biomass retention, high effluent quality. However, MBR suffers a major drawback in fouling. Membrane fouling remains a major challenge and is a main reason why application of the activated sludge MBR is not wider used. During filtration of the activated sludge in MBR, fouling decreases the membrane permeability and thus treated water flux, which results in higher operational and maintenance costs, higher energy consumption, difficulties in utilization, reduced operational flexibility, and frequent cleaning and replacement of membrane. In the AGMBR system, aerobic granules formation from flocs may prevent pore clogging and alleviate fouling of the membrane. The integration of these two technologies provides the benefits of small footprint, cost-effective, high effluent quality, energy saving, high tolerance to toxic chemicals, low sludge yield, low fouling and high sustainability for wastewater treatment and reclamation. As a result, AGMBR is an integrated, sustainable, innovative wastewater and reclamation solution for municipal and industrial applications. The novel AGMBR technology will ultimately contribute to Canada’s efforts in environmental protection and sustainable development and can be exploited and deployed in other biological wastewater treatment facilities worldwide. The patentable process could potentially be widely applied in the wastewater industry in Canada and markets worldwide.