Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8

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Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Demonstration of a full-scale plant using an UASB followed by a ceramic

MBR for the reclamation of industrial wastewater
Terutake Niwa a,b, Masashi Hatamoto b, Takuya Yamashita a, Hiroshi Noguchi a, Osamu Takase c,
Kiran A. Kekre d, Wui Seng Ang d, Guihe Tao d, Harry Seah d, Takashi Yamaguchi b,⇑
a
Meiden Singapore Pte Ltd, 5 Jalan Pesawat, Singapore 619363, Singapore
b
Nagaoka University of Technology, 1603-1 Kamitomiokamachi, Nagaoka, Niigata 940-2188, Japan
c
Meidensha Corporation, Nishibiwajimacho, Kiyosu, Aich 452-8602, Japan
d
Water Reclamation (Plants), PUB, 82 Toh Guan Road East, #C4-03, Singapore 608576, Singapore

h i g h l i g h t s

A full-scale UASB reactor followed by a ceramic MBR was demonstrated for 395 days.
3

The system achieved a power consumption of 0.76 kWh m during 25 LMH operation.

Bacteria in the UASB reactor adopted to treat this mixed industrial wastewater.

Ceramic membrane completely recovered TMP by cleaning after 395 days operation.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This study comprehensively evaluated the performance of a full-scale plant (4550 m3 d1) using a UASB
Received 22 April 2016 reactor followed by a ceramic MBR for the reclamation and reuse of mixed industrial wastewater contain-
Received in revised form 8 June 2016 ing many inorganics, chemical, oil and greases. This plant was demonstrated as the first full-scale system
Accepted 10 June 2016
to reclaim the mixed industrial wastewater in the world. During 395 days of operation, influent chemical
Available online 13 June 2016
oxygen demand (COD) fluctuated widely, but this system achieved COD removal rate of 91% and the cera-
mic MBR have operated flux of 21–25 LMH stably. This means that this system adsorbed the feed water
Keywords:
fluctuation and properly treated the water. Energy consumption of this plant was achieved
Full-scale
Ceramic membrane
0.76 kWh mm3 and this value is same range of domestic sewage MBR system. The combination of an
Low power consumption UASB reactor and ceramic MBR is the most economical and feasible solution for water reclamation of
Wastewater recycling mixed industrial wastewater.
Industrial wastewater Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
During increased industrialization, some countries have been
faced with a scarcity of water to use for industrial processes
because of the increase in demand and a limited water supply,
therefore the reclamation and reuse of industrial wastewater is
essential. Mixed industrial wastewater displays typical character-
istics, such as high strength and fluctuation in water quality, which
is why the reclamation process requires a wide-range operation
band in terms of fluctuated influent wastewater and stability.
Researchers have investigated treatment of industrial wastewater
using an membrane bioreactor (MBR) (Mutamim et al., 2013),
up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) (Tawfik et al., 2008),
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: niwa.t@meidensg.com.sg (T. Niwa).
anaerobic MBR (Lin et al., 2013), and combined system with anaer-
obic and aerobic biological processes (Chan et al., 2009). Preferably,
highly polluted industrial wastewaters are treated in an anaerobic
reactor due to the high level of COD, potential for energy genera-
tion, and low surplus sludge production. An UASB is the most
widely used high-rate anaerobic system for anaerobic sewage
treatment, and a number of full-scale UASB systems have been
installed worldwide (Mirsepasi et al., 2006). However, posttreat-
ment after such systems were used was needed for reclamation.
In addition, membrane filtration is common in the domestic
wastewater reuse arena, and MBR is an effective process when
combined with an activated sludge system for water reuse pur-
poses (Galil and Levinsky, 2007). Typically, a MBR is applied to
treat industrial wastewater due to its robustness, flexibility, com-
pactness, complete solid separation performance, and capability
of producing high quality reusable water (Di Bella et al., 2013).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.036
0960-8524/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8

However, energy consumption is higher than it is for a conven- treatment system because of high variation in wastewater among
tional activated sludge system because an air scouring system is industries and different feed water quality. Typically no research
needed to prevent membrane fouling. The air scouring system is was founded about performance of a full-scale plant using UASB
one of the key drivers to achieve stable filtration, but it is measure reactor and ceramic MBR to reclaim the mixed industrial wastew-
consumer of energy (Fenu et al., 2010). ater including energy consumption and growth of microorganism.
There are two types of configurations for a membrane array: the Thus, the aim of this study was to provide knowledge of full-scale
membranes can be placed either outside or inside the bioreactor. In plant operation using a system with an UASB reactor followed by a
the external system with an inside-out type membrane, permeate ceramic MBR to expand this technology at the Jurong Water Recla-
flux generally varies between 50 and 120 L m2 h1 (LMH), and mation Plant (JWRP) in Singapore. A detailed analysis of the foulant
the transmembrane pressure (TMP) is in the range of 1–4 bar. In on a ceramic membrane was conducted with scanning electron
the submerged configuration with an outside-in type membrane, microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM/EDX).
the permeate flux varies from 15 to 50 LMH, and the TMP is The 16S rRNA genes in the UASB granular sludge and MBR acti-
approximately 0.5 bar. The submerged configuration is more eco- vated sludge were studied to understand the microbial communi-
nomical, based on energy consumption (Cicek et al., 1999). ties that treat industrial wastewater.
Most of the MBR applications were initiated with organic mem-
branes, which are much cheaper compared to their ceramic coun-
2. Materials and methods
terparts. However, in recent years, some studies have focused on
ceramic membranes because of their supposed robust resistance
2.1. System description
to fouling and chemical attack, longer service life, and higher per-
meate flux (Noguchi et al., 2010; Jin et al., 2010). Moreover, cera-
The experiments were carried out with a full-scale UASB reactor
mic membranes are resistant to extremes in pH, temperature,
and ceramic MBR system at the JWRP in Singapore. Fig. 1 presents
and pressure and can withstand rigorous cleaning with acids,
a schematic flow of this full-scale plant. The feed water to this
bases, and hot water. Table 1 shows the advantages of ceramic
demonstration plant at the JWRP was taken only from the indus-
membranes.
trial wastewater, which was the mixed discharge water of over
It is important to evaluate not only the performance and
300 factories including from the food, beverage, and pharmaceuti-
stability of the treatment process, but also the energy consump-
cal industries from the Jurong industrial area, and contained sol-
tion. The authors reported energy consumption values of an MBR
vent, oil, and chemicals. Raw feed water from the existing
were in the range of 0.7–0.8 kWh m3 (Krzeminski et al., 2012)
distribution chamber of the industrial wastewater was distributed
and 0.4–0.7 kWh m3 (Tao et al., 2010) when operating the MBR
to this demonstration plant by volute pumps and through a 2-mm
at optimal condition in municipal facilities. Gabarron et al.
screen. The equalization tank, which had an effective volume of
(2014) reported that energy consumption of a MBR using a flat-
760 m3, was installed upstream of the UASB reactor to stabilize
sheet membrane was lower than it was when using a hollow-
certain fluctuations in the feed water. There are 2 reactors of UASB,
fiber stand-alone MBR. In addition, specific organic load in indus-
and both reactors consisted of a rectangular concrete tank with an
trial wastewater is higher than it is in wastewater from municipal
effective volume of 600 m3 and a gas solid separator above the
facilities; thus, a combined process is key to reducing energy
reactor to prevent biomass washout. Effluent from the UASB reac-
consumption.
tor was fed to the ceramic MBR. The ceramic MBR consisted of
The integrated system with an UASB reactor followed by a MBR
three process parts: an anoxic zone, an aerobic zone, and a mem-
has the above-mentioned benefits when treating industrial
brane tank where ceramic flat-sheet membrane (CFSM) units with
wastewater (Buntner et al., 2013). The advantages of an UASB
9600 m2 of total surface area were installed. The specifications for
alone are that it not only treats mixed industrial wastewater with
the CFSM unit used throughout this study are shown in Table 2.
low energy consumption, low sludge production, and generation of
The effective work volume of the bioreactor was 1520 m3. The per-
biogas for in-house power generation, but also adsorbs fluctuated
meate water from the ceramic MBR through to the pressure meter
feed water quality and produces good quality effluent water con-
and flow meter by suction pump with Variable Sequential Drive
stantly with high strength wastewater. The ceramic MBR process
(VSD) and fed to the permeate tank, and the backwash pump
accepts a fluctuation in feed water also with less impact or shock
was installed on a backwash line. Two blowers were installed,
of TMP fluctuation and achieved the stabilization of product water
one for aeration of the aerobic biological process, which was con-
quality because the ceramic membranes remove suspended mat-
trolled automatically by dissolved oxygen (DO), and one for scour-
ters without any suffering damage including attack by chemicals
ing air for the ceramic membrane unit. This system was automated
and emulsion oils.
fully by PLC and SCADA.
Much of the pioneering research of MBRs occurred in North
America, France, the UK, South Korea, China, Germany, and Japan
(Yang et al., 2006). On the other hand, some of the researchers have 2.2. Operation condition
investigated about integrated systems using UASB reactor and MBR
(Qiu et al., 2013). After a 2-month start-up period, the plant operated for a little
However, few papers have evaluated the process performance over a year from March 1, 2014 to March 30, 2015. Each UASB reac-
with energy consumption for a full-scale industrial wastewater tor was run at a fixed flow rate of 113.4 m3 h1. Based on the
results of previous pilot-scale studies, the UASB reactor in the pre-
sent study was operated at a continuous hydraulic retention time
Table 1 (HRT) of 6.3 h, and the up-flow velocity was set to 1.2 m h1. Gran-
Advantages of ceramic membranes versus polymeric membranes.
ular sludge was used from an industrial beverage company, which

Long-life span and recyclable had 47,760 mg L1 of mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS).

High resistance to chemical erosion and emulsion oil The ceramic MBR process was done in series and operated at a

Capability of treating wastewater including inorganic matter
flux of 21–25 LMH, and permeate flow was controlled to

High recoverability through chemical cleaning

Strength against extreme high/low pH impacts 190 m3 h1 for 10 min of sequential batching. The HRT was 8 h.

Applicable for high temperature wastewater Prior to this full-scale plant, a preliminary evaluation had been car-
ried out using pilot-scale test equipment, and the results were that
 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8
Raw
Feed
UASB
Equalization
Reactor
Tank
Screen
Heavier
Sludge
Fig. 1. Schematic flow diagram of demonstration plant.
Table 2
Specifications for the ceramic flat-sheet membrane unit.
Membrane type Flat-sheet ceramic
Material: ceramic (a alumina)
Company: Meidensha Corporation, Japan
Filtration Suction (out-in)
Nominal pore size 0.1 lm
Membrane surface 0.5 m2 per element
area
Number of membrane 400 elements/unit
elements
Operating range Maximum operating temperature: 80 °C pH range in
common use: 2–12
such wastewater could be treated properly by a UASB reactor and
ceramic MBR combined system. To maximize the benefits of
the integrated UASB reactor and ceramic MBR system, we used
the operational parameters of the pilot-scale test for this study.
The ceramic MBR consists of an anoxic zone and aerobic zone
and a membrane tank to convert ammonia to nitrogen gas. DO
concentration of the MBR was maintained at an average of
5.4 ± 1.1 mg L1 during the first five months without an anoxic
zone, and averaged 1.5 ± 0.6 mg L1 during the remaining months
with an anoxic zone. The flux of the ceramic membrane was main-
tained from 21 to 25 LMH, and scouring aeration was carried out
continuously with a flow rate of 44.5 m3 min1.
2.3. Analytical methods
During this study, composite samples of raw feed and the
equalization tank water, UASB effluent, and MBR permeate were
collected weekly by an auto sampler and analyzed for total and sol-
uble COD, BOD, SS, TN, TP, oil and grease, volatile acids, PO4, sul-
fate, conductivity, and turbidity. ORP, pH, and DO were measured
onsite daily. TMP was measured by a digital pressure sensor and
flow rates of feed water, permeate, and backwash water were mea-
sured by an electromagnetic flow sensor. MLSS was measured for
the mixed liquor of activated sludge from the aerobic tank. All
the water quality analyses was performed according to the Stan-
dard Methods (APHA, 2005).
SEM/EDS analysis for the used membrane was carried out by a
scanning electron microscope (JEOL JSM-6390 LA) and an energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (JEOL, 2300 Series).
2.4. Microbial community analysis
The retained sludge from the UASB reactor and MBR was col-
lected and stored at 20 °C until DNA extraction. DNA was
extracted using a Fast DNA SPIN Kit for Soil (MP Biomedicals) fol-
lowing the manufacturer’s instructions. The 16S rRNA genes were
3
Anoxic Aerobic Membrane Permeate
Zone Zone Tank
Sludge Circulation
Excess
Sludge
amplified by using a universal forward primer Uni515F (50 -GTGC
CAGCMGCCGCGGTAA-30 ) and universal reverse primer Uni806R
(50 -GGACTACHVGGGTWTCTAAT-30 ) (Caporaso et al., 2012). 16S
rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was carried out using a Miseq
reagent kit v.2 with the Miseq system (Illumina). Sequence data
analysis was conducted using QIIME software package 1.8.0
(Caporaso et al., 2010) and following data analysis were performed
described in previous report (Kuroda et al., 2015).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Characterization of water quality and overall system performance
The main characteristics of the feed/UASB effluent/MBR product
water are given in Table 3.
Total COD and biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) in the feed
water ranged from 260 to 4440 mg L1 and from 257 to
2827 mg L1 respectively during this study, with a range of pH
from 6.3 to 9.6. The BOD/COD ratio in the feed water varied from
33 to 96, indicating much fluctuation in nonbiodegradable chemi-
cals and biodegradable biomasses. A bench-scale test of the UASB
to determine the oil contaminants in this feed water was done in
the laboratory and showed that the raw feed water contained
411 ± 254 mg L1 of animal & vegetable oils and 228 ± 151 mg
L1 of mineral oils. This water analysis shows that the industrial
wastewater contained different types of oil & grease, whose
amounts fluctuated greatly.
The concentrations of COD, BOD, and ammonia are given in
Fig. 2a–c) respectively. The results presented in Fig. 2 show that
this integrated system removed 91% and 98% of COD and BOD
respectively.
The results presented in Fig. 2c) furthermore show that the sys-
tem achieved almost complete removal of ammonia, i.e., only
6.0 mg L1 remained in the final product despite the fluctuation
in feed water quality.
3.2. UASB performance
The UASB reactor was operated at a constant HRT of 6.3 h
throughout this study, whereas organic loading rate (OLR) varied
from 0.3 to 4.4 kg COD m3 d1 due to a wide fluctuation in feed
water composition. Despite variation in the OLR, the UASB reactor
provided a more or less constant effluent quality with an average
of 604 mg L1 for COD and 265 mg L1 for BOD, corresponding to
removal rates of 39% and 33% respectively. In this study, the
removal rate of COD by the UASB reactor was lower than it was
in our previous pilot-scale test to degrease the influent for which
COD concentration varied from 260 to 4440 mg L1, however the
4 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8

Table 3
Main characteristics of the feed/UASB effluent/MBR product water.

Raw feed UASB effluent MBR product

Average ± SD (Minimum–maximum) Average ± SD (Minimum–maximum) Average ± SD (Minimum–maximum)
Total CODCr (mg L1) 1356 ± 1061 (260–4440) 1050 ± 697 (400–2660) 42 ± 15 (16–82)
Soluble CODCr (mg L1) 599 ± 689 (68–3630) 371 ± 205 (100–960) 42 ± 15 (16–82)
BOD5 (mg L1) 1162 ± 801 (302–2827) 468 ± 221 (141–758) 9±5 (<1–22)
TSS (mg L1) 520 ± 647 (81–2780) 551 ± 530 (21–1610) <1
Total Nitrogen (mg L1) 106 ± 49 (63–205) 142 ± 45 (87–213) 37 ± 21 (11–88)
Total phosphorus (mg L1) 13 ± 5 (7–26) 16 ± 4 (11–23) 1±0 (0–2)
Sulfate as S (mg L1) 279 ± 130 (48–584) 149 ± 106 (26–440) 301 ± 62 (199–427)
Oil and grease (mg L1) 146 ± 259 (11–965) 67 ± 45 (12–142) 2±1 (1–5)
pH (S.U.) 7.32 ± 0.41 (6.34–8.39) 7.47 ± 0.41 (6.68–8.80) 7.25 ± 0.46 (6.10–8.67)
Color (HU) N/A N/A 29.69 ± 10.08 (15.00–40.00)
BOD/COD (%) 63 ± 13 (43–91) 44 ± 27 (14–82) 24 ± 16 (4–59)

SD: standard deviation.

UASB reactor maintained the same effluent water quality even
when the feed water had a high COD concentration.
The concentration of MLSS dropped for the first 60 days, but
recovered to 46,910 mg L1, and the UASB reactor maintained an
average MLSS concentration of 38,839 mg L1 in the reactor during
this study.
The pH of the UASB effluent ranged from 6.5 to 8.8. Gas gener-
ation in the UASB was observed every day after the raw water was
supplied to it, and gas production averaged 107 Nm3 CH4 d1. The
gas generated in the UASB was an average of 75% methane. Pro-
hibitive matter in the feed water of the UASB reactor was not
observed.
UASB activity was limited because COD concentration of the
feed water averaged 623 mg L1 during the first 250 days of oper-
ation, but COD removal rate of UASB reactor increased because
COD concentration of the feed water increased double such as
1325 mg L1 during the second 100 days of operation. The above
result of removal rates of COD and BOD in this study was shown
that the UASB reactor and ceramic MBR adsorbed the fluctuation
in feed water quality and produced good quality water stably.
The COD mass balance is shown in Fig. 3. Twenty percent of
removed COD was converted into methane gas because of limited
activity of the UASB reactor.
To profile the sludge in the UASB reactor, a lab-scale activity
test was done, and the results from such are shown in Fig. 4. During
this study, sludge production increased slightly, and methane-gas-
producing activity increased, meaning that the UASB sludge prop-
erties were converted from seed to new, and therefore are capable
of treating the mixed industrial wastewater at the JWRP.
3.3. MBR performance
The COD of the MBR influent (the UASB effluent) fluctuated
from 150 to 2660 mg L1, and the concentration of COD in the
MBR permeate was 10–120 mg L1 for the 395 operational days,
meaning that the ceramic MBR worked properly and adsorbed fluc-
tuation in the feed water quality. The analysis detected that the
ceramic MBR process operated without irreversible fouling despite
a rapid increase in the loads of ammonia and oil & grease. During
this study, MLSS was controlled from 5000 to 12,000 mg L1, and
pH ranged from 6.1 to 8.6. High DO was observed during the first
five months because the feed water quality was lower than it
was for the pilot plant, but DO was controlled properly after estab-
lishment of an anoxic zone. The combination of an UASB reactor
and a ceramic MBR achieved an overall removal efficiency of
93.6% for oil & grease without any membrane fouling despite a
high oil & grease concentration in the feed water. Turbidity of
the product water was 0.18 mg L1 during operation.
A ceramic MBR process is a very promising option for producing
good quality effluent that can be used as industrial water for mixed
industrial wastewater treatment.
3.4. Ceramic membrane performance: variation in TMP
The TMP of the MBR was stable at 5.1–10.5 kPa when the MBR
was operated at a membrane flux of 21 LMH during the first
300 days of operation. The TMP of the MBR was stable at
8.4–17.3 kPa when the MBR was operated at a membrane flux of
25 LMH during the second 60 days of operation; however, the
TMP increased rapidly after feed water contained high concentra-
tion of oil. Subsequently, the permeability of the ceramic mem-
brane dropped to 144 LMH bar1, but the permeability was still
at an acceptable level of control, therefore the system was not shut
down during this operation. In the ceramic membrane filtration
processing, 9.5 min of filtration and 0.5 min of backwash cleaning
without any chemicals were carried out periodically. The varia-
tions in the flux, TMP, and permeability are shown in Fig. 5. For this
study, the ceramic membrane properly demonstrated a flux
between 21 and 25 LMH without critical fouling under high fluctu-
ation conditions.
3.5. Results of SEM/EDS analysis of ceramic membrane
SEM/EDS analysis was carried out for the used ceramic filter to
investigate the fouling mechanism for the CFSM unit after this
operation. SEM images of the surface of the used membrane before
and after recovery cleaning (RC) and a new membrane are shown
in the top of Fig. 6. Foulant covered the surface of the used mem-
brane, and RC removed it completely.
Noguchi et al. (2010) determined that the fouling mainly
occurred on the surface of the ceramic membrane only, and clog-
ging of the membrane had not occurred within the layers of the
membrane. At the bottom of Fig. 6 shows EDX counting spectra
for the membrane surfaces of the used membrane before and after
RC and a new ceramic membrane. Mainly carbon (C), phosphorous
(P), silica (Si), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and magnesium (Mg) compo-
nents were observed on the used membrane surface; on the other
hand, only oxygen (O) and aluminium (Al) were detected on the
cleaned membrane surface, which originated from the ceramic
membrane itself, as indicated by the EDX of the new membrane.
These results indicate that this mixed industrial wastewater con-
tained many inorganic compounds, and RC completely removed
the membrane foulants without damaging the membrane.
 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8 5

(a)

(b)

(c)

Fig. 2. Variations in a) COD and its removal rate, b) BOD and its removal rate, and c) ammonia and its removal rate, in the equalization tank water (EQT), UASB effluent
(UASBeff), and permeate.

3.6. Sludge analysis
16S rRNA gene sequence libraries were constructed from the
UASB reactor and ceramic MBR sludge samples and their seed
sludge, with 229,136 sequencing reads determined and further
classified into 9647 operational taxonomic units using a 97%
sequence identity cut-off. The number of operational taxonomic
units was adequate for the analysis of microbial diversity of the
reactors because a high Good’s coverage value (>97%) was
obtained.
In the seeding sludge of the UASB reactor, the principal bacterial
groups were from the phylums of Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi,
the class of Deltaproteobacteria, and uncultured WWE1. In the
archaea, hydrogenotrophic methanogens of the Methanobacterium
spp. and Methanolinea spp. and acetoclastic methanogens of the
Methanosaeta sp. dominated. These microbial groups have been
6 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8
Fig. 3. COD mass balance in the raw feed, the equalization tank effluent (EQTeff), UASB effluent (UASBeff), and permeate.
Fig. 4. UASB sludge activity test results.
encountered frequently and commonly in methanogenic granular
sludges (Narihiro et al., 2009). After several months of reactor
operation, the microbial communities gradually changed and
seemed to adapt to the mixed industrial wastewater. As expected,
the abundance of sulfate-reducing bacteria, such as Desulfomicro-
bium spp., Desulfovibrio spp., and Desulfovulvus spp., increased from
<0.01% to between 1.2 and 7.2% after one year of operation (Sup-
plemental Table 1), which could explain the increased concentra-
tion of sulfate (Table 3).
Fig. 5. Variations in FLUX, TMP, and permeability.
In addition, the Methanomethylovorans sp., which is a unique
methanogen that utilizes methanol and some methyl compounds
(Lomans et al., 1999), become one of the dominant methanogens.
This might also reflect the complex compositions of the mixed
industrial wastewater. This analysis shows that microorganisms
in the UASB reactor proliferated and evolved to treat this mixed
industrial wastewater from JWRP. From this microbial community
analysis plus the methanogenic activities test results (Fig. 4), stable
MLSS concentrations, and proper granule size distributions (data
not shown), it was shown that UASB reactor treatment is an appli-
cable and possibly suitable pretreatment for a ceramic MBR
system.
As for the inoculum sludge that was taken from the activated
sludge system of the JWRP, overall composition of the microbial
community was similar for both the inoculum and ceramic MBR
sludge samples (Supplemental Table 2). Proteobacteria dominated
in all the samples, followed by Bacteroidetes. This is a common
microbial composition of activated sludge systems as revealed
from the microbial community analysis by Zhang et al. (2012).
3.7. Evaluation of power consumption
Energy consumption is one of most important parameters when
evaluating life cycle cost, and this plant was designed for
0.85 kWh m3 of energy consumption for the rated flow. During
startup, power consumption decreased to 0.8 kWh m3 at a flow
 T. Niwa et al. / Bioresource Technology 218 (2016) 1–8 7

Table 4
Power consumption ratios for typical operational conditions.

No FLUX Energy (kWh/ UASB MBR Common equipment (light, aircon,

m3) (%) etc.) (%)
Scouring air Aeration air Circulation pump Filtration pump Rest
(%) (%) (%) (%) (%)
1 21 LMH 0.84 3 39 24 6 4 3 21
2 25 LMH 0.76 4 38 21 7 5 3 22

Before RC (14months use) Before RC (14months use) New membrane

Fig. 6. SEM images and EDX spectra of the surfaces of the used membrane before and after recovery cleaning and a new membrane.

rate above 3500 m3 d1. At the end of the operation, the daily flow Acknowledgements
rate of the integrated UASB reactor and ceramic MBR system
reached 4241 m3 d1, and the daily power consumption was The authors would like to thank the Public Utilities Board of
2630 kWh m3 for 21 LMH of flux and 2223 kWh m3 for 25 LMH Singapore for supporting this project.
of flux. Table 4 shows the percentage power consumption of this
integrated system at the typical operational conditions. This full-
scale plant achieved above value of energy consumption on Table 4, Appendix A. Supplementary data
which was similar to the domestic MBR one in the range of 0.7 to
0.8 kWh m3 (Krzeminski et al., 2012). The results also indicated Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
that a major power consumer was the blower used for membrane the online version, at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.06.
scoring and aeration. The team optimized this system and reduced 036.
power consumption to 0.7 kWh m3.
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