Real-time monitoring of the membrane biofouling based on spectroscopic analysis in a marine MBBR-MBR (moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor) for saline wastewater treatment.

A MBBR-MBR system has been developed with marine microorganisms enriched for saline wastewater treatment in this work, showing high COD and NH3-N removals. The behaviour of fouling-related components (EPS and SMP) has been studied as functions of operating time (40-90 days), salinity (0-30 g/L NaCl) and backflow ratio (0-300%, from MBR to MBBR). High biodegradability of the MBBR-MBR at optimal conditions can induce more biodegradation of humic acid-like (λex/λem: 350nm/430 nm) and fulvic acid-like (260nm/445 nm) molecules to soluble microbial by-product-like molecules (275nm/325 nm), reducing the membrane biofouling rate. The biodegradation process is suggested by the excitation-emission matrix (EEM) images. In the study of sudden salinity shock, results show that real-time monitoring the concentration of biofoulants is more effective (operative time extended by 60%) than monitoring the transmembrane pressure (operative time extended by 33%) to prevent membrane fouling. Due to an early warning from the real-time monitoring, the coming membrane-fouling is predictable and the operating conditions, such as backflow ratio, can be changed to minimize the biofouling rate.