Anaerobic treatment of low-strength wastewater: A comparison between single and staged anaerobic fluidized bed membrane bioreactors

Performance of a single anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactor (AFMBR) was compared with that of a staged anaerobic fluidized membrane bioreactor system (SAF-MBR) that consisted of an anaerobic fluidized bed bioreactor (AFBR) followed by an AFMBR. Both systems were fed with an equal COD mixture (200 mg/L) of acetate and propionate at 25 °C. COD removals of 93–96% were obtained by both systems, independent of the hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 2–4 h. Over more than 200 d of continuous operation, trans-membrane pressure (TMP) in both systems was less than 0.2 bar without significant membrane fouling as a result of the scouring of membrane surfaces by the moving granular activated carbon particles. Results of bulk liquid suspended solids, extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and soluble microbial products (SMP) analyses also revealed no significant differences between the two systems, indicating the single AFMBR is an effective alternative to the SAF-MBR system.