Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) shows good promise for energy positive wastewater treatment with impressive organic removal. However, AnMBR so far shows limited removal of nutrients such as ammonium and phosphate, and its effluent needs expensive further treatments to meet discharge limits. The objective in this study was to evaluate the nutrients removal and recovery by using the capacitive deionization (CDI) technology as post treatment following AnMBRs. The charged NH4+ and PO43- can be adsorbed quickly due to the formation of electric double-layer in CDI electrodes. The results show that about 80% of ammonium and over 70% total phosphorous were removed while 60% of electrosorped ammonium was recovered. Meanwhile, COD removal was further improved by chlorination and physical adsorption through CDI process. All results indicate that CDI might be considered as alternative post treatment for anaerobic process to reduce both nutrients and organic contaminants.

Capacitive nutrient removal and recovery from anaerobic membrane bioreactor effluent

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.