Metabolic uncoupler, 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide addition for sludge reduction and fouling control in a gravity-driven membrane bioreactor

doi:10.1007/s11783-020-1275-4

Front. Environ. Sci. Eng.

2020, Vol. 14

Issue (6) : 96 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1275-4

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Metabolic uncoupler, 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide addition for sludge reduction and fouling control in a gravity-driven membrane bioreactor

An Ding¹(

), Yingxue Zhao¹, Huu Hao Ngo², Langming Bai¹, Guibai Li¹, Heng Liang¹, Nanqi Ren¹, Jun Nan¹(

)

¹. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment (SKLUWRE), School of Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology, 73 Huanghe Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150090, China
². Faculty of Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia

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Abstract

• Effects of metabolic uncoupler TCS on the performances of GDMBR were evaluated.

• Sludge EPS reduced and transformed into dissolved SMP when TCS was added.

• Appropriate TCS increased the permeability and reduced cake layer fouling.

• High dosage aggravated fouling due to compact cake layer with low bio-activity.

The gravity-driven membrane bioreactor (MBR)system is promising for decentralized sewage treatment because of its low energy consumption and maintenance requirements. However, the growing sludge not only increases membrane fouling, but also augments operational complexities (sludge discharge). We added the metabolic uncoupler 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) to the system to deal with the mentioned issues. Based on the results, TCS addition effectively decreased sludge ATP and sludge yield (reduced by 50%). Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS; proteins and polysaccharides) decreased with the addition of TCS and were transformed into dissolved soluble microbial products (SMPs) in the bulk solution, leading to the break of sludge flocs into small fragments. Permeability was increased by more than two times, reaching 60–70 L/m²/h bar when 10–30 mg/L TCS were added, because of the reduced suspended sludge and the formation of a thin cake layer with low EPS levels. Resistance analyses confirmed that appropriate dosages of TCS primarily decreased the cake layer and hydraulically reversible resistances. Permeability decreased at high dosage (50 mg/L) due to the release of excess sludge fragments and SMP into the supernatant, with a thin but more compact fouling layer with low bioactivity developing on the membrane surface, causing higher cake layer and pore blocking resistances. Our study provides a fundamental understanding of how a metabolic uncoupler affects the sludge and bio-fouling layers at different dosages, with practical relevance for in situ sludge reduction and membrane fouling alleviation in MBR systems.

Keywords Gravity-driven membrane (GDM) Energy uncoupling Permeability Sludge reduction Membrane fouling Fouling layer

Corresponding Author(s): An Ding,Jun Nan

Issue Date: 24 July 2020

Cite this article:

An Ding,Yingxue Zhao,Huu Hao Ngo, et al. Metabolic uncoupler, 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide addition for sludge reduction and fouling control in a gravity-driven membrane bioreactor[J]. Front. Environ. Sci. Eng., 2020, 14(6): 96.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/10.1007/s11783-020-1275-4
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fese/EN/Y2020/V14/I6/96

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the four membrane systems investigated: GDMBR 1 was the control system; and GDMBR 2/3/4 were the systems with TCS addition.

Fig.2 Effect of TCS addition on (a) the concentrations of suspended sludge; (b) total ATP contents and (c) extracellular ATP contents.

Fig.3 Effect of TCS concentration on particle size of the suspended sludge. (a) The samples on Day 14; (b) the samples on Day 28.

Fig.4 Effect of TCS addition on SMP concentrations and EPS contents: (a) SMP concentration of sludge liquor; (b) EPS contents of the suspended sludge. S1, S2, S3, S4 were the samples from the reactor; and (c) dissolved organics in the permeates. P1, P2, P3, P4 were the samples from the effluent. 14 and 28 represented the operation day.

Fig.5 Effect of TCS addition on the fluorescent organics of mixed liquor and permeate on Day 12. S1, S2, S3 and S4 were SMP samples from GDMBR 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. P1, P2, P3 and P4 were the effluent samples from GDMBR 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively.

Fig.6 Effect of TCS addition on the removal of organics.

Fig.7 Effects of TCS on permeability and fouling resistances of GDMBR system: (a) permeability development with time; (b) hydraulic and reversible and irreversible resistances (R_r, R_ir); (c) pore blocking and cake layer resistances (R_c, R_p).

Tab.1 Characterization of fouling layer with different concentrations of TCS: Biomass, EPS contents and surface porosity (after drying), analyzed on Day 40 (n = 3)

Fig.8 Three dimensional reconstructions of the Z-stacks acquired with confocal laser scanning microscopy images of bio-fouling layer on the membranes at the end of the experiment on Day 40 (the lower images were the cross-section of the fouling layer). (a), (b), (c) and (d) were the samples from GDMBR 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Red, green and blue signals represented proteins, polysaccharides and bacterial cells (DNA), respectively.

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