POLISHING OF MEMBRANE BIOREACTOR EFFLUENT (MBR) USING NANOTECHNOLOY

Abstract

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) is one of the advanced wastewater treatments; however, the MBR effluent has high microbial count. Bacterial investigation was done in MBR effluent among microbes in effluent, Enterobacteriaceae are most prominent. Hence gram negative bacteria were prominent, further investigation was done using analytical profile index (API) kit. The dominant species found were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Pseudomonas fluorescens/putida, Aeromonashydrophila/caviae/sobria, Raoultellaplanticola and Serratia odorifera. Two model bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Pseudomonas putida were selected and their disinfection was studied by photocatylsis of TiO2 nanoparticles. Acrylic setup was designed to maintain the flow of effluent. The TiO2nanoparticles were prepared by liquid impregnation method and characterized by SEM, XRD and EDS. The photocatalysis of MBR effluent was studied under visible and sunlight. The results showed that if 5 liters of membrane bioreactor effluent is allowed to pass through the setup at flow rate of 42 ml/sec then 7 log reductions is shown in bacterial colonies with 45 mins of visible light exposure; however, it takes 60mins in sunlight