Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA), an endocrine disrupting compound, is almost completely removed from wastewater through biological processes in activated sludge or immobilized biomass. However, the biological effluent may contain high concentrations of suspended solids or organic compounds (COD). In this study, wastewater treated in granular sequencing batch reactors (GSBRs) was characterised by COD concentrations from 107.1 to 145.5 mg/L and suspended solid concentrations from 101 to 171 mg/L. This wastewater (feed solution) was post-treated with ceramic membranes that are characterised by mechanical and chemical stability, long life and good antifouling properties. Microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) were conducted at transmembrane pressures (TMP) of 0.2 MPa and 0.3 MPa, respectively. Both MF and UF caused complete rejection of suspended solids. COD rejection during MF was 81.1±1.1%, independently of the composition of the feed solution. The use of UF did not increased COD rejection significantly. During MF, from 34 to 60% of COD was adsorbed to the membrane surface, as determined from the mass balance of membrane filtration. The use of UF increased COD adsorption to 71%. Permeate flux changed from 24.0 to 29.5 L/(m2�??h), and volumetric concentration factor ranged from 2.0 to 2.4; these hydraulic parameters were influenced neither by the type of filtration process nor by TMP. Although filtration capacity decreased with time because of fouling, this decrease was not affected by the composition of the feed solution. These results suggest that the use of both MF and UF ceramic membranes is a good solution for post-treatment of secondary effluent from GSBRs that treat wastewater containing BPA. However, taking everything into consideration, MF is more advantageous because it can be operated at lower TMP, thus requiring less energy for filtration.

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