Membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment and water reuse

Abstract

The shortage of water induces the necessity of use of the new water sources in urban centers and in certain regions. Thus the reuse of water originated from the effluent treatment has been pointed out as an alternative. This work aimed at analyzing the feasibility of an efluente treatment system, composed of an erobic reactor associated to an ultrafiltration membrane (biologic reactor with an external membrane) with the main idea of reuse. The qualitative observed results have shown a high removal efficiency in many systems analyzed when compared with a conventional activated sludge system. The possibility of a variety of uses of the produced permeate for urban and industrial activities was observed. However, the necessity of salt removal for some kind of uses, such as, in the cooling systems was verified. This was mainly due to high level concentration of calcium and magnesium.

Key words:
activated sludge; ultrafiltration; water conservation