A fouling suppression system in submerged membrane bioreactors using dielectrophoretic forces
Alaa H. Hawari
,
Fei Du
,
Michael Baune
,
Jorg Thöming
DOI:10.1016/j.jes.2014.07.027
Received May 05, 2014,Revised July 08, 2014, Accepted , Available online March 13, 2015
Volume 27,2015,Pages 139-145
A novel method was developed to suppress membrane fouling in submerged membrane bioreactors. The method is based on the dielectrophoretic (DEP) motion of particles in an inhomogeneous electrical field. Using a real sample of biomass as feed, the fouling-suppression performance using DEP with different electrical field intensities (60-160 V) and different frequencies (50-1000 Hz) was investigated. The fouling-suppression performance was found to relate closely with the intensity and frequency of the electrical field. A stronger electrical field was found to better recover the filtrate flux. This is because of a stronger DEP force acting on the biomass particles close to themembrane's surface. Above an intensity and frequency value of 130 V and 1 kHz, respectively the permeate flux was reduced due to an electrothermal effect.
