Hydrocarbon removal from industrial wastewater by hollow-fibre membrane bioreactors

Membrane bioreactors have been extensively studied for the treatment of domestic wastewater. In this paper we describe the application of membrane bioreactors for the depuration of non-civil wastewater coming from the washing of mineral oil storage tanks. Microfiltration hollow-fibre membranes were submerged in the bioreactor where the biomass used the hydrocarbon as a substrate. The performance of the submerged membrane bioreactor was analysed in terms of COD and hydrocarbon removal during different experiments that showed the high efficiency of the system. Particular care was taken in carrying out the operations in the sub-critical flux region. The reactor performance was very high, with removal efficiencies ranging between 93% and 97%, also when the concentration of hydrocarbon was very high. Moreover, the hydraulic retention times used in this work were lower compared to those used in an activated sludge process. Some kinetic parameters for the COD and the hydrocarbon removal were assessed.