Operation of a Large Scale Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor for the treatment of Municipal Wastewater

Despite the Membrane Aerated Biofilm Reactor (MABR) concept having existed for 30 years (Timberlake et al, 1988) it is only recently that the MABR has been implemented at full scale. This scale-up has been made possible by the increased understanding of the importance of Biofilm The first growth and control and by the availability of specifically designed membrane module. large scale Oxymem system in the Americas was installed in municipal wastewater treatment plant on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, Brazil to provide additional treatment capacity to the existing wastewater treatment plant. The 3 stage GEN III OxyMem system had a total volume of 27 m3 and 6300m2 of membrane surface area. After allowing 50 days for start-up, The system was operated in two different modes of operation, the first which simulated the addition of the modules directly into the existing treatment basin, and secondly as a parallel treatment process. During this operation the main wastewater parameters were monitored and performance of the plant was assessed based on COD, Ammonia and TSS removal capacity.