Development of a novel model by combining the intermediate blocking and cake filtration models for assessment of the prevailing fouling mechanism in a microbial fuel cell-facilitated membrane bioreactor

Abstract

This study was carried out on a membrane bioreactor (MBR) facilitated with an electric field provided by a microbial fuel cell (MFC), which effectively reduced membrane contamination and extended the operation time of the MBR from 18 to 24 days. To understand the theory of membrane fouling in the MFC-MBR, a novel model based on the operation of the MFC-MBR was proposed with the modification of the classical filtration models to assess the membrane fouling. With this model, a two-phase membrane fouling development was observed, which was initially dominated by the intermediate-blocking model and then gradually changed to cake filtration. In the combined model of two-phase development, fouling was significantly mitigated by the electric field in phase 1, but its function was barely observed in phase 2. The combined model fit well with the experimental data, which could predict membrane fouling in the application of the MFC-MBR.