Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor

Download the ADI-MBR brochure.

As water conservation and reuse increasingly become major environmental and economic goals of industry, as pretreatment standards and fees increase, and as direct discharge requirements become increasingly stringent, membrane bioreactor, or MBR, technology is fast becoming the technology of choice for many industrial wastewater treatment applications. MBR technology is now widely accepted as both a wastewater treatment and a water reuse and recycling technology and provides a number of significant advantages to industry.

ADI has partnered with Kubota Corporation of Japan to bring the ADI-MBR to the industrial marketplace in North, Central and South America, as well as many locations across the globe. With the first Kubota MBR systems in the Philippines, Argentina, and Chile, ADI is leading the way to expand the application of Kubota MBR technology in new territories around the world.

Designed to be the simplest, most reliable MBR technology available, Kubota membranes have been utilized in 3,000 installations and are backed by 20 years of proven full-scale experience. In fact, Kubota submerged membrane unit (SMU) technology has been utilized in more wastewater treatment facilities than all other submerged MBR technologies combined! As leaders in the application of MBR technology to industrial wastewaters, Kubota and its partners have completed nearly 800 different industrial installations, from food processing to complex chemicals production wastes. No other MBR technology supplier can claim as vast a body of experience, proven performance and varied application.

The ADI-MBR system is an activated sludge technology wherein a submerged physical membrane barrier is utilized to provide the liquid-solids separation instead of gravity clarification. This eliminates problems with sludge settling and separation. This near-absolute barrier to solids allows for design at much higher mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations (typically 10,000 to 18,000mg/l versus 2,000-4,000mg/l in conventional activated sludge systems), resulting in a robust, ultra-compact treatment system.  In addition, the greater inventory of biomass in the ADI-MBR provides resilience to changes in influent quality and operating conditions. The potential for long solids retention time (SRT) greatly reduces the amount of waste sludge for disposal.

Kubota Corporation currently produces three types of flat-sheet or flat-plate style membranes exclusively for wastewater treatment that each consist of three components: (1) a chlorinated polyethylene membrane spread over a non-woven mat of polyethylene terepthalate (PET); (2) an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) panel utilized for mechanical support of the membrane and mat; and (3) a polyester spacer that serves as a plenum to evenly distribute permeate flow.  The components are joined via a patented ultrasonic welding procedure that has proven to ensure long membrane life and very few membrane replacements. The combined product of these three components is referred to as a membrane cartridge.

Multiple cartridges are inserted into cassettes and the cassettes, in turn, stacked on top of integral air diffusers. The entire assembly consisting of one or more cassettes and an air diffuser assembly is referred to as a submerged membrane unit, or SMU.  Several different SMU sizes are available and differ by the number of cassettes, number of cartridges and type of membrane plate employed.

The engineered and patented configuration of the SMU allows the integrated diffuser to more effectively and uniformly scour each membrane sheet, reducing energy consumption, chemical cleaning requirements and sustaining high permeability during operation, even under higher peak flow rates.  The integrated diffuser assembly is periodically cleaned via a short daily automated flush with mixed liquor, ensuring that no maintenance of the system is required by the operator.

During operation of the MBR system, as the final stage of treatment, treated wastewater is passed through the membranes (either via a slight suction or by gravity) and becomes permeate. Permeate is then discharged or recycled/reused as required. The system can be designed to perform all of the same organic, nutrient and bacteria/virus removal functions of a properly designed conventional activated sludge system, including nitrogen removal, chemical and biological phosphorus removal, and disinfection. However, with the MBRs’ ability to carry greater amounts of biomass and provide a near-absolute retention of that biomass, nutrient removal and disinfection often prove far easier to achieve, especially under adverse conditions, with the MBR system.

Preengineered, Packaged MBR Systems
ADI-MBR technology is very modular in construction and thus lends itself well to a preengineered, prefabricated, packaged form of system construction. A packaged ADI-MBR system can be completely designed and engineered, largely constructed and assembled at ADI’s facilities and shipped to site on a flatbed truck.

Unloading is simple and connections at the site are few. The packaged system greatly simplifies on-site construction and installation while also significantly reducing site disruption. A typical pre-fabricated, packaged ADI-MBR system can be installed and made functional in as little as one day.

Packaged MBR systems are available for industrial wastewater flows from approximately 1,000 to 125,000 gallons per day. Depending on the design flow rate, characteristics of the wastewater, and the required system performance, supplemental process tanks requiring on-site construction may be needed.

Advantages of ADI-MBR technology over other MBR and conventional aerobic treatment technologies include:

• Smaller, ultra-compact footprint
• Easier to operate and maintain
• Reduced sludge production
• Reduced wastewater pre-screening requirements
• Low energy consumption
• Higher permeability (flux/TMP) in mixed liquor
• Low-head gravity operation capable; hundreds of full-scale applications
• Superior peak flow capabilities at high permeability
• Superior quality effluent; can even eliminate disinfection needs
• Simpler, less-frequent membrane cleaning; maintenance cleanings only, no recovery cleaning
• Lowest cleaning chemical usage; no on-site storage needed
• No backpulsing or backwashing
• The only true clean-in-place, full-tank membrane cleaning system; system is never truly off-line for cleaning
• Longest proven membrane life in full-scale applications (>10 years)
• No buildings required for membrane basins; no permanent lifting devices/overhead cranes needed
• Easier to construct; membranes easier to handle, store and install

The ADI-MBR can be utilized to treat nearly any industrial wastewater that is aerobically biodegradable, and is often applied to wastewaters from:

• Food processing
• Manufacturing
• Fuel and food-grade ethanol production
• Biodiesel and biofuels production
• Pharmaceutical
• Dairy processing
• Meat, seafood and poultry processing
• Pulp and paper
• Beverage manufacturing
• Bakeries and confectioneries
• Potato processing
• and many more industries