An electro‐microbial membrane system with anti‐fouling function for phenol wastewater treatment

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Membrane fouling is still a big problem to be solved. In order to reduce membrane fouling and improve the efficiency of phenol degradation, a Pd/carbon conductive membrane, used as both a filter membrane and a cathode, was prepared by electrodeposition of Pd on a carbon membrane and then employed to develop an electro‐microbial membrane system ( EMMS ). RESULTS The degradation rate of phenol was higher than that in a microbial membrane system ( MMS ) and in an electrocatalytic membrane system ( EMS ). The phenol degradation followed zero‐order kinetics in the three systems. The degradation efficiencies of phenol and COD were 99.6% and 95.4%, respectively, at 10 h in the EMMS . The mean membrane flux in the EMMS was 2.64 times that in the MMS and 1.25 times that in the EMS . The reasons for the excellent anti‐fouling of Pd/carbon membrane were: (1) the membrane had repulsion potential for the pollutant because it carried negative charges; (2) H 2 bubbles generated on the membrane surface possibly induced gas and liquid microflows to detach and even blow‐out the foulants; and (3) the membrane was scoured by shear stress resulting from aeration. CONCLUSIONS A carbon/Pd conductive membrane as cathode has great potential for membrane fouling mitigation in EMMS . © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry