Hybrid powdered activated carbon-activated sludge biofilm formation to mitigate biofouling in dynamic membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment

Membrane costs and biofouling limit applications of membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for wastewater treatment. Here, powdered activated carbon (PAC) utilization in the formation and performance of a self-forming dynamic membrane consisting of activated sludge and PAC during hybrid wastewater treatment process was studied. Short-term agitation helped (non)biological particles to quickly uniformly settle on mesh filter, forming more uniform PAC-containing dynamic membranes (PAC-DMs). PAC adsorbed adhesive materials, resulting in an increase in average floc size and DM permeability while decreasing biofouling. The most efficient PAC concentration was 4 g L−1 considering techno-economics, i.e. the highest effluent quality (turbidity of 19.89 NTU) and the lowest biofouling (transmembrane pressure rise of 2.89 mbar). Short-term performance of hybrid PAC-DM bioreactor (PAC-DMBR) showed stability in effluent quality improvement including 92%, 95%, 83%, 84% and 98% reductions in turbidity, chemical oxygen demand, total dissolved solids, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous, respectively. Accordingly, adopting hybrid PAC-DMBR has potential to alleviate biofouling and capital cost.