Characterization of organic membrane foulants in a forward osmosis membrane bioreactor treating anaerobic membrane bioreactor effluent

In this study, two aerobic forward osmosis (FO) membrane bioreactors (MBR) were utilized to treat the effluent of mesophilic (35 °C) and atmospheric (25 °C) anaerobic MBRs, respectively. The results showed that the FO membrane process could significantly improve the removal efficiencies of N and P. Meanwhile, the flux decline of the FOMBR treating effluent of mesophilic AnMBR (M-FOMBR) was higher than that treating effluent of atmospheric AnMBR (P-FOMBR). The organic membrane foulants in the two FOMBRs were analyzed to understand the membrane fouling behavior in FO processes. It was found that the slightly increased accumulation of protein-like substances into external foulants did not cause faster flux decline in P-FOMBR than that in M-FOMBR. However, the quantity of organic matter tended to deposit or adsorb into FO membrane pores in P-FOMBR was less than that in M-FOMBR, which was accordance with the tendency of membrane fouling indicated by flux decline.