Efficiency of electroplating wastewater treatment by suspended carrier integrated with MBR technology

In order to study an efficient and economical treatment process of electroplating wastewater, parallel operation of suspended carrier composite MBR (HMBR) and ordinary MBR process was adopted. With Cu2+, Ni2+ and Cr(VI) as the main indicators, this study mainly focused on the impact of different heavy metals concentrations on the electroplating wastewater treatment efficiency and the microbial activity. The influence of carrier intervention on membrane fouling and microbial population diversity were also studied. The experimental results showed that the removal efficiency of COD and NH4+ in HMBR was over 60% and 40% respectively with the concentrations of Cu2+, Ni2+ and Cr(VI) (5~30mg/L), while that in the MBR was over 30% and 15%. With the increasing of Cu2+, Ni2+ and Cr(VI) concentrations, the concentrations of sludge and SOUR in the normal MBR declined gradually. The SOUR inhibition rate of 48.9% in HMBR by heavy metal was far less than that of 73.9% in normal MBR. The secretion of EPS in HMBR was significantly lower than that in ordinary MBR process, which effectively slowed down the rate of membrane fouling. In addition, the addition of carriers increased the diversity of microbial populations in the reaction system © 2018, Editorial Board of China Environmental Science. All right reserved.