Performance of Thermophilic Aerobic Membrane Reactor (TAMR) for Carpet Cleaning Wastewater

Managing sewage has become increasingly important at both the national and international levels, largely due to uncertain future options for recovery and disposal. Due to this, it is necessary to develop innovative technology that can reduce pollutants such as surfactants to mitigate the problem at its source. Surfactants are the kind of pollutants that can pose health and environmental risks. This paper aims to study the efficiency of the removal of methylene blue active substances as an anionic surfactant (MBAS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) from carpet cleaning wastewater using a thermophilic aerobic membrane reactor (TAMR). A laboratory-scale reactor was monitored daily for a month during this study. The removal efficiencies of MBAS and COD were 92 and 95 %, respectively. This study demonstrated that the TAMR process could resist high-stress situations (sudden load peaks) and withstand high surfactant concentrations, making it the ideal pretreatment option. For MBAS removal, the TAR and UF processes combined led to higher removal yields. MBAS was removed almost completely (>92 %) by the TAMR+UF procedure. Moreover, membrane cleaning operations and fouling problems are discussed.