The anaerobic MBR for sustainable industrial wastewater management.

Abstract Anaerobic high rate processes are considered cost and resource efficient solutions for treating wastes and wastewaters. Referring to the global current “energy discussion,” anaerobic conversion processes recover “organic waste enclosed energy” to the gaseous energy carrier CH4, whereas no energy is required for stabilizing the waste organic matter. Considering the ongoing trends in industries to reduce specific water consumption, and thereby drastically changing the process water characteristics, membrane bioreactor (MBR) application opportunities are expected to grow in the future. Compared to aerobic MBR technologies, anaerobic MBR (AnMBR) systems do have the same energy benefits as all other anaerobic systems with regard to treatment of organic pollutants, but do also create an absolute barrier for the biomass. By using ultrafiltration membranes, both the dissolved and nondissolved organic matter are retained in the bioreactor preventing that they will leach out with the effluent or digestate....