Textile Wastewater Treatment with Membrane Bioreactor

The use of a membrane bioreactor (MBR) has been rapidly developing over the last decade. This technology is based on the biodegradation of wastewater with activated sludge in a combination with the physical process of membrane filtration and has become of particular interest due to its numerous advantages during waste water treatment. The objectives of this work were to treat laboratory-prepared wastewater using MBR, in order to determine its effectiveness regarding wastewater treatment, and to establish operational parameters and system stability which would provide optimum treatment. The operational parameters, e.g. inlet waste water, flow, concentration of oxygen within a bio-unit and the monitoring of ultra filtration pressure, were adjusted during the treatment process. By measuring individual parameters and implementing the chemical analysis, a satisfactory functioning of the MBR system was demonstrated, since the efficiency value regarding COD reduction and the elimination of dyes, expressed as SAC (Spectral Absorption Co-efficient), reached 70-90% for both parameters. The results show that the removal efficiency of COD was 90% and of the dyes 97%, respectively. It can be concluded that the MBR technology, as a combination of biological and physical treatments, is very effective for the textile wastewater treatment.