Anoxic gas recirculation system for fouling control in anoxic membrane reactor

Anoxic gas recirculation system was applied to control the membrane fouling in pilot-scale 4-stage anoxic membrane bioreactor (MBR). In the anaerobic-anoxic-anoxic-aerobic flow scheme, hydrophilic polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane (0.2 μm, 7.2 m²/module) was submerged in the second anoxic zone. During 8 months operation, the average flux of the membrane was 21.3 L/(m²·hr). Chemical cleaning of the membrane was conducted only once with sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite. Dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration in the second anoxic zone was maintained with an average of 0.19 ± 0.05 mg/L. Gas chromatography analysis showed that the headspace gas in the second anoxic reactor was mainly consisted of N₂ (93.0% ± 2.5%), O₂ (3.8% ± 0.6%), and CO₂ (3.0% ± 0.5%), where the saturation DO concentration in liquid phase was 1.57 mg/L. Atmospheric O₂ content (20.5% ± 0.8%) was significantly reduced in the anoxic gas. The average pH in the reactor was 7.2 ± 0.4. As a result, the recirculation of the anoxic gas was successfully applied to control the membrane fouling in the anoxic MBR.