Energy Consumption Related to Shear Stress for Membrane Bioreactors Used for Wastewater Treatment

The main drawback of membrane bioreactors (MBR) systems is the fouling of the membrane, which is decrease and/or prevented through gas sparging. However, gas sparging practices are based on rules of thumb or a trial-and-error approaches which are tedious, very timeconsuming, do not necessarily provide optimal fouling control and they are not energy efficient. Therefore, dedicated experiments are needed to fully understand the hydrodynamics of this two-phase flow. Two types of submerged MBRs were studied: 1) Hollow Fiber (HF) and 2) Hollow Sheet (HS). For the first case, experimental shear stress measurements and CFD simulation were made. It was found that the average shear stress over the membrane surface from the CFD model is similar compared to experimental data (error less than 8 %). However, some differences in the distribution of shear stress throughout the submerged MBR system were observed. It was found that the CFD and experimental data was similar in terms of shear stress. On the other hand, for the HS MBR experimental measurements were not made. Nevertheless, as a proper validation was attained with the HF MBR, it was inferred that the CFD results for the HS MBR were accurate. A linear empirical correlation between the average shear stress and the blower power per unit of permeate was made. This work uses an empirical relationship to determine the shear stress based on the ratio of aeration blower power to tank volume. This relationship is used in bubble column reactors and it is extrapolate to determine shear stress on MBR systems. It was found that this relationship is over predictive by 28 % compared to experimental measurements and CFD results. Therefore a correction factor is included on the relationship to account for the membrane placed inside the bioreactor.