- Thesis topic: 應用奈米粒子改質薄膜以減緩厭氧活性污泥膜濾法中膜阻塞之研究

- Doi: 

- Abstract: 

        Given Taiwan's policy goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, emission reduction within the environmental sector has become imperative. According to 2024 statistics, wastewater treatment and discharge accounted for approximately 38.8% of environmental sector emissions, representing the largest source. This underscores the critical importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment as a key focus area for environmental sector decarbonization. Among these sources, the consistently high carbon emissions from wastewater treatment facilities position them as a priority target for future carbon reduction policies.
The Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) represents one of the most significant treatment units in contemporary water resource recovery centers. This technology synergistically combines the individual advantages of anaerobic methanogenesis and membrane filtration, demonstrating excellent treatment efficacy for pollutant removal and degradation from wastewater, while requiring considerably less land area compared to conventional treatment systems. Furthermore, due to its non-aeration requirements, AnMBR systems exhibit lower energy demands compared to traditional activated sludge processes and aerobic membrane bioreactors, while simultaneously possessing renewable energy generation capabilities through methane production. However, the technology currently faces significant operational challenges, primarily related to membrane fouling complications, including declining membrane flux, increasing transmembrane pressure, and impacts on backwash intervals and effluent quality.
The primary cause of membrane fouling stems from extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) released by microbial communities within the reactor, leading to cake layer formation. The principal objective of this research was to investigate membrane surface modification using three different nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄, PANI, and Fe₃O₄/PANI composite) applied to PVDF membranes, with performance evaluation conducted through laboratory-scale simulation studies compared to unmodified PVDF membranes.
This study maintained continuous AnMBR operation for 250 days, with stepwise increases in system loading at 2, 4, and 6 LMH to analyze the relationship between influent flow rates and the concentrations of SS, COD, proteins (PN), and polysaccharides (PS) in both the reactor and effluent, with particular emphasis on membrane backwash intervals and flux recovery rates. The findings revealed that the three nanoparticle-modified membranes (Fe₃O₄, PANI, and Fe₃O₄/PANI) demonstrated significantly superior backwash requirements and frequency compared to unmodified PVDF membranes, with backwash frequency reducing from 10 times to 8, 7, and 6 times, respectively. Regarding flux recovery rates, the modified and unmodified membranes exhibited similar performance. For effluent SS and COD parameters, both modified and unmodified membranes displayed comparable trends.
This study also analyzed the biogas production and methane yield of the anaerobic MBR system, which were 0.32 and 0.22 L/g COD_input, respectively. These values showed no significant differences compared to international literature. Moreover, the anaerobic MBR system in this study operated without temperature control, and both the influent COD concentration and loading rates were considerably lower than those reported in domestic and international studies. These preliminary results confirm the feasibility of anaerobic MBR systems for treating municipal wastewater.

Keywords: Membrane Bioreactor, Membrane Modification, Membrane Fouling