TY - JOUR
T1 - Evaluation of direct membrane filtration and direct forward osmosis as concepts for compact and energy-positive municipal wastewater treatment
AU - Hey, Tobias
AU - Bajraktari, Niada
AU - Davidsson, Åsa
AU - Vogel, Jörg
AU - Madsen, Henrik Tækker
AU - Hélix-Nielsen, Claus
AU - la Cour Jansen, Jes
AU - Jönsson, Karin
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Municipal wastewater treatment commonly involves mechanical, biological and chemical treatment steps to protect humans and the environment from adverse effects. Membrane technology has gained increasing attention as an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment due to increased urbanization. Among the available membrane technologies, microfiltration (MF) and forward osmosis (FO) have been selected for this study due to their specific characteristics, such as compactness and efficient removal of particles. In this study, two treatment concepts were evaluated with regard to their specific electricity, energy and area demands. Both concepts would fulfil the Swedish discharge demands for small- and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants at full scale: (1) direct MF and (2) direct FO with seawater as the draw solution. The framework of this study is based on a combination of data obtained from bench- and pilot-scale experiments applying direct MF and FO, respectively. Additionally, available complementary data from a Swedish full-scale wastewater treatment plant and the literature were used to evaluate the concepts in depth. The results of this study indicate that both concepts are net positive with respect to electricity and energy, as more biogas can be produced compared to that using conventional wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the specific area demand is significantly reduced. This study demonstrates that municipal wastewater could be treated in a more energy- and area-efficient manner with techniques that are already commercially available and with future membrane technology.
AB - Municipal wastewater treatment commonly involves mechanical, biological and chemical treatment steps to protect humans and the environment from adverse effects. Membrane technology has gained increasing attention as an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment due to increased urbanization. Among the available membrane technologies, microfiltration (MF) and forward osmosis (FO) have been selected for this study due to their specific characteristics, such as compactness and efficient removal of particles. In this study, two treatment concepts were evaluated with regard to their specific electricity, energy and area demands. Both concepts would fulfil the Swedish discharge demands for small- and medium-sized wastewater treatment plants at full scale: (1) direct MF and (2) direct FO with seawater as the draw solution. The framework of this study is based on a combination of data obtained from bench- and pilot-scale experiments applying direct MF and FO, respectively. Additionally, available complementary data from a Swedish full-scale wastewater treatment plant and the literature were used to evaluate the concepts in depth. The results of this study indicate that both concepts are net positive with respect to electricity and energy, as more biogas can be produced compared to that using conventional wastewater treatment. Furthermore, the specific area demand is significantly reduced. This study demonstrates that municipal wastewater could be treated in a more energy- and area-efficient manner with techniques that are already commercially available and with future membrane technology.
KW - Biogas production
KW - forward osmosis
KW - membrane filtration
KW - seawater
KW - wastewater treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85015150954&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/09593330.2017.1298677
DO - 10.1080/09593330.2017.1298677
M3 - Journal article
SN - 0959-3330
VL - 39
SP - 264
EP - 276
JO - Environmental Technology
JF - Environmental Technology
IS - 3
ER -