REMOVAL OF METALS AND MICROPOLLUTANTS IN MBR AND CAS SYSTEMS IN AN INDUSTRIAL ZONE WASTEWATER

A laboratory scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was used with three different flat sheet (FS) membrane modules treating a high strength real industrial zone wastewater. Both the MBR and the conventional activated sludge (CAS) system treating carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus were compared in terms of metals and micropollutants removal. Different types of micropollutants were selected; ibuprofen as a pharmaceutical, triclosan as a personal care product and four other pollutants as industrial ones: bisphenol-A (BPA), phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Ibuprofen and BPA removal results were consistent with the literature which were higher than 99%. PAHs are removed efficiently both in WWTP and the MBR. However, the MBR performed better than WWTP for many PAH types. No PCBs were detected in all analysis. This study showed that while MBR was a good option for PAHs and some phthalates, there is little or no difference between MBR and CAS for the most of the pollutants.