Fairley, Tim

Tim Fairley is a research assistant at the University of Michigan and has been researching anaerobic membrane bioreactors for the past 4 years. His research focus has been the design of membrane bioreactors, both their operation and filtration technology. As a result of this research, he is a co-inventor of a patent-pending device and treatment method which provides enhanced biological performance and low-pressure filtration in bioreactors. Prior to University of Michigan, he earned his bachelor's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA, during which he worked for the research and development team at LACSD's Joint Water Pollution Control Plant.

Titles from this speaker

Description: Long-Term Performance of a Recirculating Anaerobic Dynamic Membrane Bioreactor for...

Long-Term Performance of a Recirculating Anaerobic Dynamic Membrane Bioreactor for Mainstream Domestic Wastewater Treatment

Abstract

A lab-scale recirculating anaerobic dynamic membrane bioreactor (R-AnDMBR) was operated for over a year with three different influent sources representative of domestic/municipal wastewater. Results show that the R-AnDMBR design is robust to changing influent loading and can sufficiently remove carbon from domestic wastewater at ambient temperature, evidenced by effluent chemical oxygen demand (COD) less than 40 mg/L at a hydraulic residence time (HRT) of 3.6 hours. Notably, the meshes were able to achieve good filtration, evidenced by effluent suspended solids (SS) concentration less than 30 mg/L, without fouling. The meshes were never cleaned, were able to self-regulate any transmembrane pressure (TMP) buildup, and operated at a filtration resistance an order of magnitude lower than a conventional anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR). The long-term, lab-scale demonstration indicates that high-rate anaerobic treatment of mainstream domestic wastewater is feasible, offering an alternative to current practice of energy intensive aerobic treatment.

SpeakerFairley, Tim

Presentation time

14:00:00

14:30:00

Session time

11:00:00

12:00:00

SessionGoing KETO: Stories of Carbon Re-Direction in the Age of Advanced Nutrient Removal

Session number9B

TopicEnergy Production, Conservation, and Management, Municipal Wastewater Treatment Design, Nutrients, Research and Innovation

Author(s)

T. FairleyL. RaskinS.J. Skerlos