For the process we chosen to be process will be the wastewater from pickling vegetables.

During the food processing of the pickling vegetables, the fermentation process is taking place
during the process, and when the process is done, saline effluent is mainly generated, which high
in NaCl concentration, lactic acid, high chemical oxygen demand level (COD) and undissolved
solid particles, since salt are the main component applying in the pickling process. Since if the
wastewater is disposed directly, the high salinity of the water will harm to the aqueous species,
and plant, which will deeply affect ecosystem in our surrounding. Thus, water treatment is
necessary to the wastewater before discharge to the environment. (3)

Talking about the wastewater treatment for the pickling vegetables, after the research
which done by using network, membrane bioreactor is suitable to take charge of the water
treatment process. Membrane bioreactor (MBR), is a combination of membrane process such as
microfiltration or ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment process, which is widely
used for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment nowadays. (24) There are two types of
MBR configurations popular in nowadays, which are internal and external. For the internal MBR
set the membrane immersed in the biological reactor, the membrane can be a flat sheet, tubular
or combination of both. Internal membrane bioreactor are more relies on coarse bubble aeration
to mix and limit fouling. While going to the external configuration, the membranes are installed
externally to the bioreactor, which enable the biomass can be pumped directly through several
membrane modules then return to the reactor. (25)

Next, going to through the process of membrane bioreactor operation, first, for both types
of the membrane bioreactors, the pretreatment of the feed stream is necessary, to avoid unwanted
and large solid particles exist in the waste stream, and minimizes accumulation of solids and
protect the membrane. (26) Then, the pretreat water will flow into the aeration tank, the main
function of the aeration tank is to allow the wastewater to proceed aerobic bio-degradation of the
pollutant components by using microorganisms that occur naturally in wastewater to degrade the
contaminants in the water. (27) During the aeration process, the bacteria will break down the
organic compounds, such as lactic acid in this case in water, which also result in reducing the
COD level in the wastewater to make it safety to dispose. (28) In this case, a type of bacteria,
which called, Escherichia coli is used because of it exhibited the greatest degree of adaptability
to salt solution during the early stationary growth phase. (3) During the aeration process, oxygen
is needed by the bacteria to allow the biodegradation to occur, in the aeration tank, air is pumped
into the tank, to provide oxygen to bacteria for treating and stabilize the wastewater, promote the
microbial growth in the wastewater, the microbes will then feed on the organic materials,
forming flocks which can easily settle out. (27) Thus, it also can be considered as fermentation
process, which the bacteria are break down the organic compounds from the wastewater by
taking the oxygen from the system.

The membrane filtration is the last stage for the membrane bioreactor, depends on the
configuration applied, internal configuration, the filtration will place in the aeration tank, while
for the external configuration, the membrane will be placed outside of the aeration tank. (26) The
membrane filtration is generally filter out the small particles that pretreatment can’t remove out,
the particles can be removed is depends on the pores size of the membrane installed in initially.
Usually will applying the ultrafiltration membrane, to provide better separation of the bacteria
and suspended solids in the wastewater, the pores size of the ultrafiltration membrane will be 5
to 100nm. (29) After the membrane filtration, the final effluent is flow out, for most of the
membrane bioreactor system, there will be a recycle stream, to recycle the sludge back to the
aeration zone, since for those flocks which settle out in separate tank, the bacteria will form
“activated sludge” which can continually recirculate back to the aeration tank to increase the rate
of decomposition. (27) Until here, most of the bacteria and organic compounds is removed from
the wastewater, the left salt ions are left, to remove the salt ions in the water, the reverse osmosis
membrane is applied to remove the salt from the effluent from the ultrafiltration membrane, the
reverse osmosis membrane is a kind of membrane that pore size are much smaller than the
ultrafiltration membrane, which range between 0.1 to 1nm. (29) However, the primary limitation
for the reverse osmosis membrane are high cost and the limiting operating experience in the
treatment of wastewater. Thus, it usually applied when the removal of the salt ions is necessary,
and applied in limited area only. (3)

In a nutshell, to discuss about which could be expected by the membrane bioreactor, first,
about the main component that need to remove, which is the salt in the pickling vegetables
wastewater in initial are contains about 8% salt ions, (1) and the final objectives is to reduced the
salt ions percentages to below 3% to be considered as the safety dispose level, by applying the
reverse osmosis membrane, it will ensured the elimination o 99.4% of the salts, means that the
system is ensured that the salt ions in the safety level. (3) While for the COD, the high level of
COD will cause the toxic algae blooms and seafood contamination, decrease the amount of
dissolved oxygen available for aquatic organisms and etc. (30) Hence, before the wastewater is
disposed, the CCOD level should be reduced to avoid the situation above happened, which initial
level recorded will be 120gl-1 while by applying membrane bioreactor for the treatment, by using
the aeration tank, it will able to reduce the value by 60-70% of initial value. For the suspended
solids in the wastewater, those with large particles will be separate during the pretreatment stage
while the small particles will be separate by using the membrane in the bioreactor. (3)

Pickling Wastewater Influent Effluent

Component
Salt Concentration (%) 8 <3
COD in (gl-1) 120
Mixed Liquor Volatile 4.9
Suspended Solid (gl-1)
COD Removed (%) 60-70
Table 1: Components of Pickling Vegetables of Influent and Effluent of Membrane Bioreactor

References

(1) What are membrane bioreactors? https://www.thembrsite.com/what-are-mbrs/ (accessed Jun

7, 2021).

(2) Membrane Bioreactors In Wastewater Treatment.

https://www.gardnerdenver.com/en-ph/hoffmanandlamson/industries/water-and-
wastewater-treatment/membrane-bioreactors (accessed Jun 7, 2021).

(3) Wastewater Management Fact Sheet .

https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-08/documents/membrane_bioreactor_fact
_sheet_p100il7g.pdf (accessed Jun 7, 2021).
(4) Andrade, L. H.; Mendes, F. D.; Espindola, J. C.; Amaral, M. C. Internal versus External
Submerged Membrane Bioreactor Configurations for Dairy Wastewater Treatment.
Desalination and Water Treatment 2013, 52 (16-18), 2920–2932.

(5) Byrne, W. Why is Aeration Important for Wastewater Treatment?

https://www.oxymem.com/blog/why-is-aeration-important-for-wastewater-treatment
(accessed Jun 7, 2021).

(6) https://medium.com/@MrJojo77/5-ways-to-reduce-cod-in-wastewater-d217bb5d5574

(7) https://www.lenntech.com/processes/mbr-introduction.html

(8) https://www.stormwaterx.com/resources/industrialpollutants/chemical-oxygen-demand-cod/