Effects of salinity on the biological performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor

The performance of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AnMBR) was evaluated treating synthetic wastewater with various concentrations of NaCl (0-40 g/L), as well as the recovery phase. The effluent COD removal efficiency decreased from 96.4% to 95.0%, 91.4%, 86.7% and 77.7% with stepwise increasing of salt concentration from 0 to 5, 10, 20 and 40 g NaCl/L, respectively, then gradually increased to 94.1% during the recovery phase. Additionally, the significant changes in the content and composition of soluble microbial products (SMP) and extracellular polymer substance (EPS) were obtained under higher salt stress. GC-MS analyses were carried out for the effluent, and some new types of compounds, such as Dodecane, Undecane, and Ethyl Acetate, were found during salt exposure phases. The characterization of the microbial community was also investigated based on the analysis of genomic 16S rDNA, revealing the increasing salinity (5-40 g NaCl/L) could reduce the diversity of sludge microbial community in AnMBR. Meanwhile, the significant effects on the composition of dominate phyla (Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes and Chlorofiexi) were found during the salt exposure phase.