Last Updated on August 25, 2022 by Kevin Chen
Municipal wastewater treatment is a process of removing contaminants from sewage and sludge. It includes physical, chemical, and biological processes to treat sewage water for domestic, commercial, and industrial uses.
One of the most important advances in municipal wastewater treatment in recent years has been adopting membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology. MBR technology is becoming increasingly popular due to its many advantages over traditional treatment methods. MBR systems can provide excellent effluent quality, occupy a small footprint, and require less energy to operate than other treatments.
The below 2 cases provide an overview of the MBR membrane application for the municipal wastewater treatment process, including how it works and its benefits.
Case 1: Municipal Wastewater Treatment
Most wastewater in the industrial park is directly discharged by enterprises or reaches the discharge standard after treatment. The water quality changes significantly, and the water inflow is greatly affected by enterprises’ production and drainage cycle. In general, there are many refractory substances in the water, complex components, poor biodegradability, and high requirements for the impact load resistance of the system.
MBR Project Overview
| Location | Taizhou Baimi Town Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province, China |
| Type of Wastewater | Municipal Wastewater |
| Flow | 4,800 m³/D |
| Commissioned | Since Oct. 2021 (SPERTA MBR Membrane) |
MBR Process Flow Chart
Influent Condition and Effluent Quality
| Index | Influent Condition | Designed Effluent | Actual Effluent |
| CODCr（mg/L） | ≤450 | ≤50 | 40 |
| BOD5（mg/L） | ≤280 | ≤10 | 8 |
| SS（mg/L） | ≤280 | ≤10 | 2.5 |
| Ammonia Nitrogen（mg/L） | ≤60 | ≤15 | 3 |
| pH | 6~9 | 6~9 | 6~8 |
| TP | ≤8 | ≤0.5 | 0.4 |
| TN | ≤80 | ≤15 | 8 |
Case 2: Domestic Wastewater Treatment
To save water and improve the reuse rate of reclaimed water, the authority of Oasis Park, which is in Foxconn (Jincheng) Science and Technology Industrial Park, plans to green plants and reduce dust by reusing the treated industrial & domestic wastewater in the park.
The mixed liquor combines industrial and domestic wastewater and is good as influent water for the membrane tank after pretreatment. The water productivity meets the requirements, its quality is stable, and the working pressure reaches the reuse water quality standard in urban sewage recycling – urban miscellaneous water quality (GB / T18920-2002).
MBR Project Overview
| Location | Foxconn (Jincheng) in Shanxi, Xi’an Province, China |
| Type of Wastewater | Domestic wastewater in the park |
| Flow | 3,250 m³/d |
| Commissioned | Since 2020 (SPERTA MBR Membrane) |
MBR Process Flow Chart
Influent Condition and Effluent Quality
| Index | Influent Condition | Designed Effluent | Actual Effluent |
| CODCr（mg/L） | ≤380 | ≤50 | 34 |
| BOD5（mg/L） | ≤220 | ≤10 | 7 |
| Turbidity（NTU） | / | ≤5 | 0.5 |
| Ammonia nitrogen (mg / L) | ≤35 | ≤5 | 3 |
| pH | 6~9 | 6~9 | 7~9 |
| TP（mg/L） | ≤4 | ≤0.5 | 0.3 |
| TN（mg/L） | ≤55 | ≤15 | 8 |
