Optimizing Air Scouring Energy for Sustainable Membrane Bioreactor Operation by Characterizing the Combination of Factors Leading to Threshold Limiting Conditions

Key operating variables to predict the necessary scour air flowrate in full-scale Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) systems are identified, aiming to optimize energy consumption while avoiding the limiting condition (i.e., rapid increasing total resistance). The resulting metric, referred to here as the K value, was derived by balancing hydrodynamic conditions between the particle deposit rate imposed by permeate flux normalized by fouling condition and its removal by shear stress induced from air scouring. The metric includes air scouring flow, permeate flow, Mixed Liquor Suspended Solids (MLSS) concentration, Mixed Liquor (ML) viscosity, membrane packing density, and total resistance. Long-term (year-long) data from two full-scale MBR plants were analyzed. The value of K corresponding to limiting operational operation and referred to as the limiting K value, K_Lim, is estimated by detecting the occurrence of threshold limiting flux from the data stream and calculating the resulting value for K. Then, using K_Lim, the minimum required specific air demand per permeate (SAD_p,Crit) is calculated, indicating a potential reduction of over half the air scouring energy in typical operational conditions. The results from this data driven analysis suggest the feasibility of employing K_Lim to predict the adequate scour air flowrate in terms of dynamically varying operational conditions. This approach will lead to the development of energy-efficient algorithms, significantly reducing scour air energy consumption in the full-scale MBR system.