A New Approach to Minimizing Membrane Aeration Energy Costs

A new membrane aeration energy reduction strategy for the membrane bioreactor (MBR) process was demonstrated at the Pooler wastewater treatment plant in Georgia. Using the existing aeration equipment at the facility and making minor changes to the PLC code, the new aeration strategy was implemented on two of the four membrane trains at the plant. Six months of operation demonstrated that the new strategy results in membrane performance equal to that of the previous aeration method with a 50% decrease in the energy consumption due to membrane aeration under average daily flow conditions. This new economical aeration method or "ecoaeration" was implemented on the entire plant in early 2006 at the request of the City of Pooler. Based on local electricity costs of $0.055/kWh the new aeration method energy reduction resulted in savings in 2006 of $22.50 per million gallons treated. This equated to a 5% reduction in the total monthly energy bill for the treatment plant. The results of the trial are presented here.