Treatment of aquaculture wastewater using ultra-low pressure asymmetric polyethersulfone (PES) membrane

Aquaculture activities are well known to be the major contributor to the increasing level of organic waste and toxic compounds in the aquaculture industry. The main contaminants of the wastewater effluent are metals, suspended solids, ammonium, organic nitrogen and phosphorus. In order to provide a condusive culture environment, these effluents should be treated. The increasing demand for high quality of receiving water in aquaculture systems was the driving force for the selection of membrane technology in this study. Polyethersulfone (PES) membranes were prepared by using a dry/wet phase inversion technique and subsequently were tested to determine the potential for aquaculture wastewater treatment. The wastewater used was obtained at a discharge point after sand filtration treatment. With the emphasis on the removal of total ammonium and total phosphorus, the PES membranes were found to be capable to remove these compounds to about 85.70% and 96.49%, respectively at the applied pressure range from 4 to 8 bar. These findings showed that membrane technology has a great potential to be used for this particular application. This will lead to a novel and efficient technique for the treatment of aquaculture wastewater and at the same time helps to improve the culture environment.