Wastewater treatment in membrane bioreactor using low-cost membranes

MBR technology is one of the major wastewater treatment solutions that has received considerable attention in US, Europe and Asia (Japan, China, Korea) since the early 1990s. At present, there are over 2000 MBRs operational worldwide for both municipal / domestic and industrial wastewater treatment (mainly food processing, automotive, chemical industries). In this context, the present work is motivated by the following factors: 1. High membrane module cost, which is a limitation to its widespread application 2. Growing Indian market for wastewater treatment wherein reverse osmosis / nanofiltration (RO / NF) is being adopted in various industrial WWTPs; in this context, MBR can be an effective RO / NF pre-treatment step 3. Nearly 70% sewage is untreated in India; thus MBRs offer an effective decentralized treatment option 4. MBR manufacturers are entering India and thus there is an urgent need to build active research groups in this field. This work is aimed at developing an MBR prototype using low cost membrane filters for domestic wastewater treatment.