Sixth framework programme

SIXTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME

PRIORITY 1.1.6.3

G
LOBAL CHANGE AND ECOSYSTEMS
FP6-2004-Global-3

Activity code: SUSTDEV-2004-3.II.3.2.2

Contract for:
SPECIFIC TARGETED RESEARCH OR INNOVATION PROJECT
Annex I - “Description of Work”

Project acronym: EUROMBRA

Project full title: Membrane bioreactor technology (MBR) with an EU perspective for advanced municipal wastewater treatment strategies for the 21st century.
Proposal/Contract no.: 018480

Related to other Contract no.:

Date of preparation of Annex I: 20/09/2005
Operative commencement date of contract: 01/10/2005

Table of contents:

Table of contents: 1

Project summary 2

Project objectives 2

Participant list 6

Relevance to the objectives of the specific programme and/or thematic priority 6

Potential Impact 8

Project management and exploitation/dissemination plans 11

Workplan– for whole duration of the project 15

Project resources and budget overview 55

Ethical issues 63

Appendix A - Consortium description 64

Project summary

The World is running out of clean, safe, fresh water. By 2025 one third of humanity (ca. 3 billion people) will face severe water scarcity. This has been described as the "single greatest threat to health, the environment and global food security". Water is essential and preservation of its safety in quantity and in quality is critical to the sustainable development of any society. The goal of this project is to make a contribution to meet this challenge. The protection of water in the European Union has been encouraged through the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The intention of WFD is to protect water resources (quality and quantity) through an integrated water resource management policy. Wastewater treatment is an important aspect of water management. Efficient, cost effective treatment processes are needed for transforming wastewater into water free from contamination which can be returned to the hydrological cycle without detrimental effects. The development and application of MBR for full scale municipal wastewater treatment is the most important recent technical advance in terms of biological wastewater treatment. It represents a decisive step further concerning effluent quality by delivering a hygienically pure effluent and by exhibiting a very high operational reliability. The overall objective of EUROMBRA is to develop a cost-effective, sustainable solution for new, efficient and advanced municipal wastewater treatment based on MBR technology. This will be achieved through a multi-faceted, concerted and cohesive research programme explicitly linking key limiting phenomena (fouling, clogging) observed and quantified on the micro-, meso-, and macro-scale. Key to the success of the programme is the harnessing of specialist knowledge, conducting of dedicated yet interlinked experiments and incorporating key aspects of both system design and operational facets, the latter encompassing hydrodynamics and mass transfer, foulant speciation and dynamic impacts.

Project objectives

The overall project objectives are to develop sustainable solutions for new, efficient and cost-effective advanced wastewater treatment technologies for municipal wastewater based on membrane bioreactor technology.
The specific objectives of the programme are listed in Table 1.
Table 1 List of specific project objectives

Objective 1	Assessment and comparison of different configurations of membranes and membrane modules
Objective 2	Development of new methods for qualitative and quantitative analysis of foulants, both short and long term
Objective 3	Assessment of the impact of identified foulants under a range of conditions representative of those encountered in practice
Objective 4	Study of the use of novel single-filament or other dedicated test cells for optimisation and predicting behaviour at larger a scales
Objective 5	Appraisal of antifouling strategies, both for short and long-term fouling, with specific reference to key adjustable operational parameters such as imposed flux, aeration and cleaning
Objective 6	Assessment of the impact of dynamic effects, such as sudden increases in hydraulic and organic loading
Objective 7	Examination of possible impacts of and on microbial speciation and diversity
Objective 8	Examination of removal of specific contaminants through appropriate integration within process treatment scheme
Objective 9	Assessment of residuals management
Objective 10	Overall cost benefit analysis
Objective 11	Dissemination of results

Although MBR technology is currently available on a commercial level as an optional solution for treating municipal wastewater the development of the technology and industry is still in its infancy. In comparison with other membrane based technologies and applications, i.e. nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, there has been a very little degree of standardization within the MBR industry. MBR solutions that are available on the market today differ in many aspects related to choice of membrane material, module design, recommended operating modes and ranges, strategies to maintain a sustainable and economic operation, and footprint. The reason for this diversity is due to attempts in overcoming the challenges and bottlenecks found in MBR processes while making sustainable and economically sound process solutions. A key to the further development and standardization of the technology is having a better understanding of the challenges specific to the technology and finding efficient ways to overcome the bottlenecks. An overall goal of the EUROMBRA project is to improve the basis of MBR technology by integrating fundamental research and implementation of the new technology in the steps towards an established and standardized industry.

Objective 1: a variety of module designs and installation options have been proposed for MBR processes, the two most common being in an external cross-flow loop or submerged in a reactor. Results from tests show that there is a controversy with respect to advantages and disadvantages for the various systems and as such, system developers are looking for improved solutions. Treatment efficiencies and capacities are very much related to the module design, system configuration and operating mode where fouling and energy requirements vary accordingly. Within the scope of this project an assessment and comparison of optional membrane module designs and configurations will be investigated. From this data module designs will be improved, new concepts developed, optimized operating modes defined, giving the potential for increased capacities (i.e. increased fluxes) improved fouling control and reduced operating costs (i.e. less energy consumption)
Objective 2: fouling is an inherent phenomenon for all membrane processes. The type of foulant, fouling mechanism and degree/rate of fouling is complex and dependent on feedwater characteristics, membrane module designs and operating modes. To develop remediation strategies and control membrane fouling it is of utmost importance to be able to identify and measure significant and dominant foulants. Within the scope of the project new and improved methods for foulant analysis will be investigated. This includes development and validation of characterization techniques as well as monitoring techniques for enhanced process control.
Objective 3: an important aspect in the advancement of MBR processes is understanding the impact of specific foulants, when they occur and how they affect the treatment process performance. Fouling in MBR is attributed to suspended solids concentrations, the submicron colloidal particles in particular, adsorption of dissolved constituents, and bio-fouling caused by growth of biofilms and compounds generated by the biological activity (soluble microbial product - SMP, extracellular polymeric substances - EPS). In the scope of the project central challenges related to fouling by dominant foulants will be investigated and how these impact the overall performance of the process.
Objective 4: studies will be conducted with bench-scale test units, lab-scale pilot plants and larger pilot plants to investigate the performance of specific membrane modules and operating modes to give a better understanding of the fouling phenomena and thereby enable the development of tools to predict performance or optimize operating modes and conditions.
Objective 5: a sustainable operation of an MBR process will require applying appropriate anti-fouling strategies combined with membrane cleaning. Anti-fouling strategies include adjusting operational conditions for the bioreactor or applying physical-chemical means. This requires being able to identify important foulants (objective 2) quantify the response by the biological process (objective 2, 3, 6) or induce physical-chemical enhancement (objective 1) combined with aeration, or applying a form of pre-treatment (coagulation, flocculation options). Investigations will be conducted to determine key operational parameters and their overall effect on enhanced performance of the MBR process. This will have the potential of minimising fouling and increase the overall performance of the process (i.e. increase fluxes, reduced cleaning frequencies, reduced energy costs, more compact systems)
Objective 6: the treatment of municipal wastewater is a dynamic system where any treatment process will be required to handle variations both in quantity and quality. By investigating the effects of variations in hydraulic and organic loads the MBR process can be assessed by determining sensitive parameters, critical responses, and remediation actions to make the process more robust. The MBRs ability to handle such variations is crucial to the development of a sustainable treatment alternative to conventional treatment schemes.
Objective 7: the overall performance of a MBR process is determined by the interaction and interdependence of the biological processes and the membrane. The microbial speciation and diversity depends on the feedwater characteristics, reactor design, and organic loading rates, thereby changing the conditions for the membrane filtration. Within the scope of this study use and development of analytical and measurement techniques will be investigated to examine how the biological process will impact the membrane filtration and identify which operating conditions represent a specific challenge to MBRs.
Objective 8: the information and knowledge gained through parallel studies will be applied and tested in pilot plants. The MBR performance with respect to treatment efficiencies and contaminant removal will be assessed in terms of meeting future treatment goals and regulations for municipal wastewater.
Objective 9: the implementation of MBR technology as an optional treatment scheme entails delivering a complete process train from pre-treatment to residual management solutions. Within the scope of the project the aim is to detect the impact of the MBR process (membrane modules, designs, operating conditions etc.) on the qualitative-quantitative characteristics of the waste sludge produced and how this ultimately affects sludge treatment and disposal.
Objective 10: the success of MBR technology applied to treatment of municipal wastewater will ultimately be governed by the overall costs of the system. Based on normalized parameters and results from the study a cost model will be proposed enabling a const benefit analysis of optional MBR systems.
Objective 11: the project results and findings will be made available through project reports, publications in journals, presentations and national and international conferences / workshops and the development and maintenance of an internet-based information system.

The proposed programme involves a number of parallel experiments or trials conducted at different scales, from micro to mega. Globally a number of variable parameters exist which impact, ultimately, on two key variables: permeability (both time-averaged and dynamic) and product water quality. Of these, permeability (K) is of crucial importance since it is linked to cost and can be used to identify the optimum “critical” flux J_crit. Product water quality becomes important for key target contaminants such as nutrients and trace toxic or harmful.

A number of key mixed liquor quality determinants exist which are thought to influence K, most of which relate to isolated fractions such as the soluble microbial product (SMP), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS), and the colloidal, polysaccharide and proteinaceous components of these. The impact of changing process operation conditions on these parameters can be directly measured. Other impacts, such as restriction of flow by gross solids (clogging), can also be recorded. Thus most of the experimental work comprises correlations of either K or those parameters which influence it, against key process variables.
The success of the project crucially depends on the generation of these correlations, either through classical single-variable/single-impact measurements or multiple variable optimisation studies based on statistical experimental design and data processing. It is contingent upon each centre to produce such correlations for their individual, unique apparatus under a pre-identified set of base conditions to produce data and data correlations which can be normalised to allow true comparability of the work across different centres. The identification of these parameters is delivered through deliverables D1-D9 (Table 7, page 19).
Criteria for assessment can thus be reasonably developed according to:

• 
  the achievement of generation of correlations
  
• 
  data processing to produce normalised parameters
  
• 
  generation of global trends, or a single matrix, based normalised data.
  

The above is manifested in the deliverables listed in Table 7 on page 19, and ultimately in the reports (deliverables D34-D40);

D34 - Improved membrane module design and operation concept

D35 - Aeration and operation of MBRs as a function of waste water quality and module configuration

D36 - Recommendations for reactor configuration, dimensioning and process control

D37 - Operational guidelines for optimising MBR performance on tested systems.

D38 - Life-time analysis as a function of membrane cleaning

D39 - Appropriate sludge management

D40 - Cost model and cost benefit analysis
In most cases, criteria assessment is implicit within the deliverables. It is contingent upon each centre to generate appropriate correlations of process performance, generally expressed as K(t) and/or product water quality, as a function of specific process variables based on bespoke equipment and expertise provided within each of the centres. Process variables may include:

• 
  physical process operating variables, such as air and liquid flow rate/velocity, hydraulic loading variation, or cleaning cycle time;
  
• 
  process design variables, such as membrane type and configuration, aerator port size and placement, or tank aspect ratio; or
  
• 
  chemical variables, such as foulant speciation and concentration - either real or based on analogues.
  

The precise nature of the correlations to be produced will be directed both by the range of parameters identified in deliverables D1-D9 and the outcomes of specific experiments conducted within the various centres. The normalization process demands that each centre conducts experiments under the set of base conditions identified, and that certain key analyses are conducted using the same analytical methods. Ultimately, the most appropriate metric for assessing deliverables will be the quality of information provided for deliverables D34-D40.