Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285

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Design and operation considerations for wastewater treatment using

a flat submerged membrane bioreactor
Jin Kie Shim a, Ik-Keun Yoo b,*, Young Moo Lee a
a
School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 133-791, South Korea
b
School of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering, University of Ulsan, Ulsan 680-749, South Korea

Received 13 November 2001; received in revised form 14 March 2002; accepted 21 March 2002

Abstract

Combining a flat submerged membrane with a biological reactor was investigated for synthetic wastewater treatment of high
concentration. The increase of suction pressure as a result of fouling of the submerged membrane, nitrification and chemical oxygen
demand (COD) removal efficiencies were monitored during 4
/9 months operation. In order to find a proper geometry of the reactor
with respect to the long-term stability of membrane filtration, three types of membrane bioreactor with a different ratio of cross-
sectional area of the downcomer to the riser were operated and the time profiles of suction pressure increase were compared. While
maintaining a filtration flux at 12
/16 l m 2 h1, a higher ratio of downcomer to riser area gave a better filtration stability of
submerged membrane over several months of operation. A sharp increase of suction pressure was also observed when sludge bulking
occurred during normal operation. Recovery of initial pure water flux for the membrane, which has been used over 6 months, was
possible after 96 h of chemical cleaning. Under operating conditions with 12
/16 h hydraulic retention time and 8000
/16 000 mg l 1
sludge concentration in the bioreactor, COD removal efficiency was above 98% for 900
/1600 mg l 1 influent COD and nitrification
above 95% with 50
/600 mg l 1 total nitrogen fed to the membrane bioreactor. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Membrane bioreactor; Sludge bulking; Membrane fouling; Filtration stability; Flat membrane

1. Introduction istics and other design parameters. This higher sludge

The activated sludge process, which combines a
biological reactor with a secondary clarifier, is the
most common method for wastewater treatment.
Although the successful operation of the conventional
activated sludge process mainly depends on the perfor-
mance of gravitational secondary clarifiers, the sludge
settleability cannot be easily controlled in real waste-
water treatment plants. The membrane separation
technique in the field of wastewater treatment, which
was first reported with ultrafiltration membranes [1],
avoids these problems of non-settling sludge and
replaces the secondary clarifier. Due to the complete
separation of solid
/liquid, the mixed liquor suspended
solids (MLSS) can be increased up to whatever con-
centration is appropriate for the wastewater character-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: /82-52-259-2251; fax: /82-52-259-
1689.
E-mail address: ikyoo@mail.ulsan.ac.kr (I.-K. Yoo).
0032-9592/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 0 3 2 - 9 5 9 2 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 7 7 - 8
biomass enables stable wastewater treatment regardless
of organic loading fluctuation and a reduction of plant
size is possible. The advantage of the membrane
bioreactor (MBR) also includes the development of
slow growth rate bacteria such as nitrogen oxidizing
bacteria (nitrifiers).
Among various types of membranes, the first genera-
tion of MBR operated with tubular membranes placed
in external recirculation loops. The use of recirculation
loops leads to increased energy costs, 2
/10 kW h m 3
of water produced, depending on the internal diameter
of the tubes used. In addition, the high shear stresses in
the tubes and recirculation pumps can contribute to the
destruction of bioflocs and this has been linked to a loss
of biological activity [2]. The submerged MBR, which
was first developed and popularly installed in Japan, is
an alternative system of overcoming these limits [3]. In
this configuration, the membranes are placed directly
into a bioreactor and the treated permeate is extracted.
This operating mode limits the energy consumption
280 J.K. Shim et al. / Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285
associated with the filtration to 0.2
/0.4 kW h m 3
treated.
The widely used membranes to date for a submerged
type are either hollow fibres or flat membranes [4
/6].
The key to the success of internal membrane filtration is
the direct application of air for membrane cleaning at
the base of the membrane modules. Although many
applications using submerged type membranes have
been reported [3
/9], the considerations in terms of
bioreactor design were not enough for MBR. For flat
membrane, the air bubbles and air-lifted liquid move
upward along the membrane surface. Because the
membrane elements are very close together in the
membrane module, this uprising motion causes a wiping
or rubbing action between the flat membranes that
provides surface cleaning. In addition to the riser section
sparged with air, this kind of airlift reactor also has a
downcomer section with liquid moving downward
between the membrane module and the wall of the
bioreactor. For the successful control of the membrane
fouling problem, this circulation velocity of air-induced
two-phase flow of bubbling air and sludge should
generate an appropriate turbulence for the cleaning of
the membrane surface. Various design variables on
airlift-type reactor were studied in terms of liquid
circulation velocity, which is determined by an energy
balance [10].
The objective of this study was to investigate the effect
of some design and operational variables on the proper
control of membrane clogging in MBR wastewater
treatment process. The time profiles of suction pressure
increase, which indicates the progress of membrane
clogging, were compared between three types of bior-
eactor with different riser-to-downcomer cross-sectional
area ratio and size of bubbling air supplied to the
reactor. During operation, the sludge settlability repre-
sented by sludge volume index (SVI) value was mon-
itored to determine whether sludge characteristics might
affect membrane clogging. The organic and nitrogen
loads were varied during several months of operation to
verify the high volumetric efficiencies of MBR for COD
removal and nitrification.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Construction of the membrane bioreactor system
Fig. 1 shows the experimental setup for a flat-type
submerged membrane bioreactor system. For effective
circulation of air-induced liquid in the bioreactor, two
vertical flat plates separating the cross-section of the
bioreactor into the riser section and the downcomer
section were installed between each side of the flat
membrane and the reactor wall. The membrane was
placed in the centre of the bioreactor at a gap of 7 mm
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the flat submerged membrane bioreac-
tor.
with each vertical plate. The pressure gauge was
installed in order to monitor the variation of the
transmembrane pressure between the membrane and a
suction pump. To maintain a constant level in the
reactor, a peristaltic pump providing influent waste-
water and a level sensor were used. Air was supplied
through the diffuser below the membrane module. The
coarse bubble diffuser was a 1.5-cm inner diameter tube
with 1 mm openings so that coarse bubbles would be
produced. The riser section is a region of upflow air
bubbles from the diffuser and air-induced flow of mixed
liquor, while the downcomer section is a downflow
region of mixed liquor between the reactor wall and
both vertical plates.
As shown in Table 1, three rectangular types of
bioreactor with different cross-sectional area ratio of
downcomer (Ad) to riser (Ar): reactor 1 (Ad/Ar ratio of
4.5 and fine bubble diffuser); reactor 2 (Ad/Ar ratio of
1.6 and fine bubble diffuser); and reactor 3 (Ad/Ar ratio
of 3.6 and coarse bubble diffuser) were constructed and
operated for several months. One element of flat
microfiltration membrane (chlorinated polyethylene,
pore size of 0.4 mm, Yuasa Co., Japan) in each reactor
was used in this study. The filtration area of each side of
flat membrane was 0.05 m2, creating a total filtration
area of 0.1 m2.
2.2. Operating conditions and analysis
The operational periods of each MBR were about
250, 40, 70 days for reactor 1, 2 and 3, respectively.
Since intermittent suction gave a stable filtration
performance for a long period of time [3], the permeate
was extracted by a suction pump under intermittent
operation in a 10-min cycle; 8-min on and 2-min off.
MLSS was measured in daily samples and excess sludge
was removed once a week from the reactor to maintain
the MLSS concentration at around 10 000
/13 000 mg
l 1. The sludge used in this study was collected from a
 J.K. Shim et al. / Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285
Table 1
Specification of bioreactors with different geometry and air diffuser
Reactor Length (cm) Width (cm) Heighta (cm)
R1 40 13.5 39
R2 22 6 160
R3 22 10 115
a
The height means the working level of sludge mixture in the bioreactor.
b
Ad: cross-sectional area of the downcomer (downflow section of degassed sludge between the guard plate and the reactor wall); Ar: cross-
sectional area of the riser (upflow section of bubbling air and sludge between the membrane and both guard plates).
municipal wastewater treatment plant and acclimated
with synthetic wastewater for about 1 month. Synthetic
wastewater was made with tap water and the compo-
nents as follows (mg l1): glucose 670
/1080, glutamic
acid 285
/460, CH3COONH4 220
/350, NaHCO3 750
/
3000, NH4Cl 33
/53, KH2PO4 60, K2HPO4 80, MgSO4 /
7H2O 33, MnSO4 /H2O 10, FeCl3 /6H2O 2, CaCl2 /2H2O
20, NaCl 25. The COD and nitrogen concentrations of
influent wastewater were adjusted by changing the
concentrations of glucose, glutamic acid, CH3COONH4,
and NH4Cl. The flow rate of air supplied to the reactor
was maintained in the range of 12
/15 l min 1, so the
dissolved oxygen (DO) was not exactly controlled at a
fixed value. The MLSS concentration and sludge
volume index were determined by Standard Methods
[11]. Ammonium was measured by a Nesslerization
method by reading absorbance at 425 nm, and nitrate
was measured by an ultraviolet spectrophotometric
method at 220 nm as described in Standard Methods
[11]. Nitrate concentration was measured by ion chro-
matography (DX500, Dionex). COD was measured in
accordance with a US EPA approved method utilizing
Hach Laboratory Method 8000 (DR/2010, Hach). The
temperature, pH, permeate flow rate from the mem-
brane, and MLSS concentrations were monitored in
daily samples.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Suction pressure and filtration stability of membrane
Since air was fed to the reactor only in the riser
section as shown in Fig. 1, the sludge mixture was
circulated between the air-sparged riser and the un-
sparged downcomer section in the reactor, so this MBR
can be regarded as an airlift-type reactor. In general, the
magnitude of liquid circulation is one of the most
important design parameter for airlift reactor because
it controls various conditions such as the extent of gas
/
liquid mass transfer, heat transfer, mixing and turbu-
lence [10]. Depending on the characteristics of the
membranes used, the submerged MBRs have different
design and operating parameters such as the flow rate of
supplied air, the bioreactor geometry, the treatment
281
Working volume (l) Ad/Arb Air bubble
21 4.5 Fine bubble
21 1.6 Fine bubble
26 3.6 Coarse bubble
capacity per membrane area, and so on. Among these,
this study mainly focused on bioreactor geometry that
may affect on the circulation velocity of air-induced
liquid and also on the change of sludge characteristics.
In submerged MBRs, the turbulence induced by air and
liquid flow has been known to be the factor preventing
membrane clogging during wastewater treatment.
Therefore, it is important to determine a proper design
parameter for long-term operation of a MBR as well as
the development of the membrane itself with good anti-
fouling properties for wastewater treatment.
Three different types of rectangular bioreactors with
one flat membrane element in each reactor have been
tested for several months of operation as shown in Table
1. The bioreactor was classified as R1, R2 and R3
depending on the riser-to-downcomer cross-sectional
area ratio and the type of diffuser for air supply. The
effect of air flow rate, which was maintained at 12
/15 l
min 1 in all three reactors, was not quantitatively
investigated although the air flow rate is one of the
most important factors determining the circulation
velocity in air lift reactor. The slow increase of suction
pressure applied to the submerged membrane may have
resulted from an irreversible clogging of the membrane,
which requires chemical cleaning for the recovery of
initial flux. In this study, an abrupt change of suction
pressure rather than a slow increase of suction pressure
was considered as a failure of membrane cleaning by air-
induced flow. The circulation velocity of two-phase flow
of bubbling air and sludge was not measured directly in
this study. Fig. 2 shows the filtration stability of R1 in
terms of suction pressure for about 8 months of
operation. The flux was maintained at 12
/16 l m 2
h 1. No increase of suction pressure during an initial 5
months clearly showed the effective cleaning of mem-
brane surface by an uplifting two-phase flow of air and
sludge. Near day 150, the increase in suction pressure
became serious and operation was temporarily inter-
rupted for membrane washing.
During operation, the SVI was monitored to check
the sludge characteristics. SVI was maintained around
80
/150 for an initial 140 days, but a sharp increase of
SVI up to 500 was observed between day 140 and day
155 of operation. At that time, the bulking sludge state
caused by filamentous organisms could be confirmed by
282 J.K. Shim et al. / Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285
Fig. 2. Variation of suction pressure and flux in reactor 1 (R1).
microscopic observation. If this bulking did not occur,
the suction pressure might be maintained at almost zero
value for a longer operation time. In fact, the sludge
characteristics in the MBR can be in many physiological
states during normal operation of the MBR process
because the sludge is a living microorganism. Although
MBRs have been said to be a stable system regardless of
sludge settlability, this study suggests that the abrupt
change of sludge characteristics such as a bulking state
should be prevented in MBRs for long-term stability of
membrane filtration.
Fig. 3 shows the operation result for R2 and R3. The
operation of R2 was started at the same time as R1.
While R1 was stably operated for an initial 5 months,
the filtration stability of R2 was maintained for less than
1 month. As shown in Table 1, the difference of design
and operation variables between R1 and R2 was only in
the ratio of cross-sectional area of the downcomer to the
riser. The SVI value was also monitored during the
operation of R2 and it was stably maintained at around
80
/120. From this result, it can be assumed that the Ad/
Ar ratio of 1.6 in R2 did not generate a sufficient flow
Fig. 3. Variation of suction pressure and flux in reactors 2 and 3 (R2,
R3).
for proper cleaning of the membrane surface compared
with the ratio of 4.5 in R1. After operating for 39 days,
the sludge in R2 was transferred to R3 and the operation
of R3 was started with no delay. Compared with the R1
and R2, respectively, the coarse bubble diffuser was
applied in R3 and the Ad/Ar ratio was two times larger
than that of R2. During 80 days of operation with R3,
the suction pressure did not increase from its initial zero
value and the Ad/Ar ratio of 3.6 in R3 was sufficient for
the prevention of membrane clogging.
3.2. Chemical cleaning and flux recovery
As shown in Fig. 2, the upward tendency of suction
pressure became serious over a short period near day
150, which implied rapid acceleration of membrane
fouling. Since an increase in air flow rate up to 30 l
min 1 for some hours was not effective for lowering the
suction pressure, the operation was stopped on day 155
and the membrane element was taken from the reactor.
The formation of a thick gel layer was observed on the
membrane surface. At first, sponge washing with tap
water was carried out and then the membrane surface
became visually clean. After the washed membrane was
re-installed in the reactor, the operation re-started. The
suction pressure was restored almost to its initial zero
value and maintained for about 3 days, but then started
to increase again. Until then, the SVI was maintained
around 400
/500, which indicates the bulking state of
sludge. It is not clear if this second increase of suction
pressure was due to the hard deposition and internal
pore plugging by particles that were not easily cleaned
by physical washing.
When the suction pressure reached about 190 mmHg
on day 166, the operation was stopped for the second
cleaning of membrane. Chemical cleaning was done
after washing as before. The membrane was immersed in
a 0.5 wt.% sodium hypochlorite solution for 3 h
followed by 0.5 wt.% oxalic acid solution for another
3 h. Before the start of operation with this chemically
washed membrane, the whole sludge in the reactor was
removed and the reactor was filled with new sludge of
low SVI. Although the restored zero value of suction
pressure was maintained for a longer time compared
with the physical sponge cleaning, the increase of
suction pressure was also observed from day 190. The
operation was stopped on day 200. At the third cleaning
step, the concentration of cleaning chemicals was
increased to 1.0 wt.% and the immersion time was
varied while the immersion time was fixed at overall 6
hours in the previous second cleaning. The membrane
was immersed in a 1.0 wt.% sodium hypochlorite
solution followed by a 1.0 wt.% oxalic acid solution.
As shown in Fig. 4, the recovery of the original pure
water flux was measured with the variation of immer-
sion time, which means overall immersion time into a
 J.K. Shim et al. / Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285
Fig. 4. Effect of chemical cleaning time on the recovery of the initial
pure water flux. Chemical cleaning was performed with 1.0 wt.%
NaOCl solution followed by 1.0 wt.% oxalic acid solution.
sodium hypochlorite solution followed by an oxalic acid
solution. The recovery of the pure water flux is defined
as,
J The above F/M ratio in this study corresponds to a
Recovery of pure water flux (%)  t 100
Ji
where Ji and Jt are the pure water flux of before used
and after cleaned.
The recovery rate of pure water flux sharply increased
with the overall immersion time and led to almost the
original value after 96 h. In this study, the required time
for successful membrane cleaning was too long since the
membrane was just immersed in a chemical solution. So,
the other appropriate methodology will be necessary for
the effective short term cleaning of membrane. After the
third cleaning for 96 h, the operation was started and the
suction pressure did not increase until day 246 as shown
in Fig. 2.
3.3. Sludge concentration and F/M ratio
Due to the complete retention of all suspended solids
by the membrane, the MBR has the advantage of a
higher biomass concentration compared with the con-
ventional process. Fig. 5 shows the variation of MLSS
concentration and the resulting F/M ratio (kg COD kg
SS1 day1) during the operation of R1. The F/M ratio
is defined as S/uX , where S is influent COD concentra-
tion (kg m 3), u is hydraulic retention time of the
reactor (day), and X is the MLSS concentration (kg
m 3). Sludge was intermittently withdrawn from the
reactor in order to maintain its concentration around
9000
/12 000 mg l 1, so the F/M ratio was maintained
around 0.15
/0.3 depending on the membrane flux and
the feed wastewater concentration. Many previous
studies on the submerged MBR have been performed
at a F/M ratio less than 0.1 since the target wastewater
283
Fig. 5. Variation of MLSS and F/M ratio in reactor 1 (R1).
was the domestic wastewater of low concentration [5
/7].
similar operating condition to the conventional acti-
vated sludge process. Consequently, this study clearly
demonstrated that the wastewater treatment capacity of
the MBR process could be increased as much as the
increase of sludge concentration if the MBR was
operated with the same F/M ratio as in the conventional
process.
The SRT (sludge retention time), which was at the
range of 20
/30 days, was determined from the inter-
mittent removal ratio of sludge. This higher SRT
compared with that of the conventional process resulted
in a low sludge yield of 0.2
/0.25 kg VSS kg BOD 1 in
this study. In the case of R2 and R3, the MLSS
concentrations and F/M ratio were maintained at
similar ranges with R1 as shown in Fig. 6.
3.4. COD removal and nitrification efficiency
The concentrations of organic compounds during the
operation of R1 are shown in Fig. 7. Influent COD
concentration of the synthetic wastewater was varied
between 900 and 1600 mg l 1 and effluent COD was
mostly maintained at less than 30 mg l 1. Regardless of
the changes in the operating conditions such as the feed
concentrations, the membrane flux determining a hy-
draulic retention time and MLSS concentration, an
excellent performance for COD removal was observed.
Since the pore size of the flat membranes in this study
was less than 0.4 mm, suspended solids (SS) was not
detected in the effluent and effluent BOD was lower
than 3 mg l 1 (data not shown).
Fig. 8 shows the concentrations of nitrogen com-
pounds for the operation of R1. Over the whole period,
284 J.K. Shim et al. / Process Biochemistry 38 (2002) 279
/285

the nitrification efficiency was more than 95% and the

nitrogen content in the permeate was almost all nitrate
(NO3). During the initial 80 days of R1 operation, the
influent wastewater was fed with a COD: N ratio of 16:1
for the first 10 days, 8:1 between day 11 and day 40, 4:1
between day 41 and day 60, and 2:1 between day 61 and
day 80, respectively. From day 61 to day 80, the effluent
ammonia concentration was less than 30 mg l 1 even at
an influent nitrogen concentration of 600 mg l1. This
high efficiency of nitrification resulted from a longer
SRT and a higher sludge concentration compared with
the conventional process.

4. Conclusions

A flat-type submerged membrane bioreactor for

Fig. 6. Variation of MLSS and F/M ratio in reactor 2 (R2).
Fig. 7. Variation of COD concentration of influent and effluent in
reactor 1 (R1).
wastewater treatment was studied in terms of design
and operational considerations. Among the variables
determining the long-term stable membrane filtration,
this study mainly focused on the geometry of a
bioreactor in which the membrane is immersed. Filtra-
tion stability was maintained for a longer period when
the cross-sectional area of the downcomer (Ad) was
larger than that of the riser section (Ad). While an Ad/Ar
ratio of 1.6 in an aerated bioreactor did not generate a
sufficient flow for proper cleaning of membrane surface,
the ratio between 3.6 and 4.5 seemed appropriate for the
prevention of membrane clogging. It could be assumed
that sludge bulking, which was confirmed by SVI value
and microscopic observation, might affect the abrupt
deterioration of filtration performance of membrane
even though a systematic study was not carried out.
Chemical immersion was an effective method for the
restoration of a fouled membrane, but a more extensive
study on the strategy for membrane washing would be
necessary to shorten the cleaning time. Due to the
distinctive advantages of the membrane bioreactor, the
COD removal efficiency and the nitrification perfor-
mance was satisfactory for a high concentration of
organics and nitrogen compounds.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by University of Ulsan

Research Fund of 2002.

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