Integration of micro-filtration into osmotic membrane bioreactors to prevent salinity build-up

The high salinity remains as one of major obstacles of the osmotic membrane bioreactor (OMBR). In this study, a new pathway was explored to prevent the salinity build-up by integrating the micro-filtration (MF) membrane to the OMBR (MF-OMBR). The results indicated that the salinity characterized by conductivity in the MF-OMBR was effectively alleviated and controlled at a lower value of about 5 mS/cm, and the stable flux of forward osmosis (FO) membrane correspondingly increased to approximately 5.5 L/(m2 h). Besides, the addition of MF membrane in the OMBR could increase the total organic carbon (TOC) and ammonium nitrogen (NH3–N) removals due to the activated sludge by improving the microbial activity. The membrane fouling especially the reversible fouling in the MF-OMBR was severer compared to that in the conventional OMBR, which resulted in a lower water flux than the expectation due to the increase of filtration resistance and external concentration polarization.