Magnetic MBR technology: from the fabrication of membrane to application in wastewater treatment

The aim of this study is to synthesize a magnetic nanocomposite membrane using iron oxide and alumina nanoparticles and employing it in magnetic membrane bioreactors (MBRs) for oily wastewater treatment. Al2O3 and Fe3O4 nanoparticles with approximate sizes of 20 and 30 nm respectively, were settled into a polysulfone (PSf) membrane matrix via magnetic casting method. The concentration of alumina and iron oxide nanoparticles were 0–0.25 wt% and 0.03 wt%, respectively. Compared with the blank membrane, an increase in the concentration of Fe3O4 up to 0.2 wt%, led to the flux as much as 70% and mitigated total resistance by 70%. The presence of the magnetic field around the bioreactor increased the flux significantly and reduced the cake resistance by 93%. Moreover, by applying the static magnetic field to MBR, the Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) removal rate was increased to 93%, while in the MBR without the magnetic field the COD removal rate was 80%. Our investigation illustrated that the magnetic casting is an effective method to improve the flux and mitigate the fouling of the magnetic nanocomposite membrane. The output of this research indicates that the magnetic casting method enhance the magnetic MBRs performance for wastewater treatment.