Pilot Study on Treatment of Wastewater from an Ethylene Plant with Membrane Bioreactor Technology

Abstract

Pilot studies were conducted with an anoxic/aerobic concept membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology and a hollow fiber Petro® MBR system with capacity of 12 m³/d was operated continuously (24-hour) during the study. Trials on different membrane fluxes were conducted to obtain the sustainable flux while mixed liquor suspended solid (MLSS) was maintained at 9-11 g/L. The results of the MBR pilot trials showed that no obvious fouling of the membrane was found when the plant was operated at the flux of 12 L /m²/h (LMH) over 3 months and 15 LMH over one month during the pilot study. Design guidelines such as hydraulic retention time (HRT), sludge retention time (SRT), anoxic and aeration volume ratio, re-circulation flow rate and air scouring were obtained for a full-scale plant. It was concluded that treatment of wastewater from an ethylene plant without addition of any chemicals using MBR technology is feasible. The product quality consistently met the requirement for discharge and was suitable for the feed of further reverse osmosis (RO) post-treatment.