Evaluation of direct membrane filtration and direct forward osmosis as concepts for compact and energy-positive municipal wastewater treatment

Tobias Hey*, Niada Bajraktari, Åsa Davidsson, Jörg Vogel, Henrik Tækker Madsen, Claus Hélix-Nielsen, Jes La Cour Jansen, Karin Jønsson

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    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.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalEnvironmental Technology (United Kingdom)
    Volume39
    Issue number3
    Pages (from-to)264-276
    ISSN0959-3330
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Keywords

    • Environmental Chemistry
    • Water Science and Technology
    • Waste Management and Disposal
    • Biogas production
    • Forward osmosis
    • Membrane filtration
    • Seawater
    • Wastewater treatment

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