Metabolic uncoupler, 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide addition for sludge reduction and fouling control in a gravity-driven membrane bioreactor

Highlights

• Effects of metabolic uncoupler TCS on the performances of GDMBR were evaluated.

• Sludge EPS reduced and transformed into dissolved SMP when TCS was added.

• Appropriate TCS increased the permeability and reduced cake layer fouling.

• High dosage aggravated fouling due to compact cake layer with low bio-activity.

Abstract

The gravity-driven membrane bioreactor (MBR)system is promising for decentralized sewage treatment because of its low energy consumption and maintenance requirements. However, the growing sludge not only increases membrane fouling, but also augments operational complexities (sludge discharge). We added the metabolic uncoupler 3,3′,4′,5-tetrachlorosalicylanilide (TCS) to the system to deal with the mentioned issues. Based on the results, TCS addition effectively decreased sludge ATP and sludge yield (reduced by 50%). Extracellular polymeric substances (EPS; proteins and polysaccharides) decreased with the addition of TCS and were transformed into dissolved soluble microbial products (SMPs) in the bulk solution, leading to the break of sludge flocs into small fragments. Permeability was increased by more than two times, reaching 60–70 L/m²/h bar when 10–30 mg/L TCS were added, because of the reduced suspended sludge and the formation of a thin cake layer with low EPS levels. Resistance analyses confirmed that appropriate dosages of TCS primarily decreased the cake layer and hydraulically reversible resistances. Permeability decreased at high dosage (50 mg/L) due to the release of excess sludge fragments and SMP into the supernatant, with a thin but more compact fouling layer with low bioactivity developing on the membrane surface, causing higher cake layer and pore blocking resistances. Our study provides a fundamental understanding of how a metabolic uncoupler affects the sludge and bio-fouling layers at different dosages, with practical relevance for in situ sludge reduction and membrane fouling alleviation in MBR systems.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Gravity-driven membrane (GDM) / Energy uncoupling / Permeability / Sludge reduction / Membrane fouling / Fouling layer

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51608150), the Open Project of State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resource and Environment, Harbin Institute of Technology (No. ES201810-02), the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. E2017042); the Natural Science Foundation of Harbin (No. 2017RAQXJ206), special support from the China Postdoctoral Fund (No. 2018T110303); and special support from the Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Found (No. LBH-TZ14).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1275-4 and is accessible for authorized users.

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