Page 181 - C:\Users\am_se\OneDrive - Higher Education Commission\Desktop\FlipBook\

International Conference on

Recent Trends in Environmental Sustainability

ESCON22/NMsB/20
Emerging application of metal oxide nano-materials in membrane bio-reactor for the
treatment of wastewater

1
Nafeesa Aman
1 Department of Structures and Environmental Engineering, University of Agriculture
Faisalabad
Correspondence: nafeesaaman@gmail.com

Abstract
Water is the most crucial natural asset that living beings require for the survival. Access to safe
and clean drinking water, efficient hygiene, and proper water treatment are regarded as core
human rights. One of the biggest sources of ground water pollution is untreated wastewater
from urban and industrial areas. It is essential to develop and implement modern sewage
treatment systems with significant efficiency and minimal capitalization. Membrane
bioreactors (MBR) have been proven to be one of the most efficacious techniques for
wastewater treatment from numerous sources. Membrane bioreactors are preferred over all
other processes such as coagulation, filtration, adsorption, and activated carbon for acquiring
high-quality effluents. Membrane fouling has been identified as an inherent barrier to the
proper functioning of the system (membrane). It requires frequent chemical cleaning and high
operating pressure, which ultimately reduces the performance and life-span of the membrane.
It also causes a decrease in permeate flux and an increase in transmembrane pressure. To
overcome these problems, recently the most advanced green technologies have been made by
embedding numerous types of nanomaterials into membranes. For this purpose, Aerobic TiO2
Nanomaterials Membrane Bioreactors have been used. TiO2 nano-materials coated over the
4+
polymer membranes surface by Ti ions with more carboxylate (COOH) group that increase
the hydrophilicity of membrane. Major organic pollutants that block membrane pores are
degraded by photolytic degradation. By UV radiation from the sun TiO2 generates reactive
oxygen which entirely degrades all kinds of pollutants from sewage and has been further
oxidized into smaller molecules such as H2O and CO2. Therefore, utilization of Nanomaterials
in membrane is helpful, to improve the performance of Membrane Bioreactor by integrating
with TiO2 Nanoparticles, that significantly reduce the issues of fouling with smaller footprint,
increase permeation rates, process stability and produced high-quality treated effluents.

Keywords: Wastewater; membrane bioreactor; Fouling; TiO2 Nanoparticles

Department of Environmental Sciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Vehari Campus

148