Work

Electro living membrane bioreactor for efficient and sustainable treatment of textile wastewater and enhanced fouling control

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The effects of integrating electrochemical processes into the innovative living membrane bioreactors (LMBR) for treating synthetic textile wastewater were examined in this study. The efficacy of electrochemical-enhanced-LMBR (e-LMBR) was assessed using wastewater containing high COD levels (1000 mg/L) and reactive (25 mg/L) and direct (25 mg/L) dyes as pollutants. The performance of the e-LMBR was compared with that of the LMBR, which had previously demonstrated high COD and DOC removal efficiencies. Both experimental configurations achieved similarly high removal efficiencies higher than 96 %. Noteworthy, the e-LMBR exhibited a removal efficiency of humic substances of 75 ± 17 %: an average value of 25 % higher than that for LMBR. Notably, the electrochemical processes substantially improved the pollutant removals: the e-LMBR demonstrated higher reductions in sulfate, nitrate‑nitrogen (NO 3 − -N), and phosphate-phosphorous (PO 4 3− -P) concentrations than the corresponding LMBR. Average ammonia, phosphates, and sulphates removal efficiencies were 99 ± 1 %, 86 ± 3 % and 55 ± 8 %, respectively, for the e-LMBR. Besides, the direct and reactive dye concentrations in the e-LMBR effluents were approximately reduced to 2.9 ± 0.5 mg/L and 2.1 ± 1.7 mg/L, corresponding to removal efficiencies of 87.5 ± 5.1 % and 91.4 ± 4.4 %, respectively. Finally, e-LMBR showed a 77 % lower membrane fouling rate and lower concentrations of fouling substances in the reactor compared to the LMBR. Incorporating electrochemical processes into a living membrane bioreactor presents a cost-effective and highly efficient solution for treating textile wastewater. • COD and DOC reduction efficiencies higher than 96 %. • Humic acid-like compounds removal efficiency of 75 ± 17 %. • Average ammonia, phosphates, sulphates removal efficiencies of 99 ± 1 %, 86 ± 3 % and 55 ± 8 %, respectively. • Direct and reactive dye removals of 91.5 ± 2.9 % and 88.1 ± 7.4 %, respectively. • Highly efficient fouling mitigation achieved by reduced concentrations of fouling precursors.

Source: Journal of Water Process Engineering

DOI: 10.1016/j.jwpe.2025.107523