Best Solution for High-load Industrial Wastewater Treatment
With rising environmental awareness and increasingly stringent regulations, the need for advanced wastewater treatment solutions has never been more critical. As industrial operations grow in scale and complexity, and as companies strive to reduce their water footprint, the challenge of managing the resulting high-strength wastewater intensifies. This calls for innovative approaches to ensure sustainable and efficient treatment processes.
On a global scale, the evolving energy landscape is accelerating the shift toward anaerobic wastewater treatment technologies. Key drivers include surging energy and gas prices, the increasing cost of carbon emissions, and the urgent need for energy security in the face of geopolitical instability. These factors are making Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor (AnMBR) an increasingly attractive solution for industries seeking both environmental compliance and energy resilience.
AnMBR is ideally suited for treating high-strength industrial wastewater, achieving maximum conversions of organics into valuable biogas. It reliably handles FOG, suspended solids and conductivity without compromising performance. Tubular UF membranes ensure complete solids retention, efficient operation, and stability of the anaerobic process at all times.
Conventional anaerobic processes offer clear sustainability benefits but are limited by large reactor volumes, biomass washout, and moderate effluent quality that often requires extensive post‑treatment. By integrating membrane filtration with the anaerobic process, AnMBR fully decouples hydraulic and solids retention times, enabling smaller reactor footprints, improved process stability, higher COD removal, and consistently high‑quality effluent.
Coupling tubular UF modules with a simple CSTR enables stable operation at high organic loading rates of up to 10 kg COD/m³·day. Effective biomass retention allows MLSS levels of 15 – 25 g/L, enhancing process stability, digestion efficiency, and biogas production.
The single‑stage AnMBR consistently achieves COD removals of > 98 %, far exceeding conventional anaerobic systems (75 – 90 %). This often eliminates the need for post‑treatment, while the UF permeate can be discharged, reused, or further polished by RO for high‑end applications.
The effectiveness of high-rate anaerobic treatment wastewater relies on retaining slow‑growing methanogenic bacteria. This can be achieved through various strategies, including gravity settling, attached growth, granular sludge formation, and ultrafiltration.
Granular sludge systems such as UASB and EGSB are widely applied and effective in many cases, but they also present inherent limitations and operational challenges that require careful control.
Effluent quality concerns
Degranulation and biomass washout can impair effluent quality.
Incomplete COD removal
Partial or insufficient COD degradation lowers treatment efficiency and biogas yields.
Extensive pre-treatment needs
Elevated suspended solids, FOG, salinity and toxic compounds can hinder granulation.
Complex start-up period
Developing stable granules is challenging and often requires seeding.
Complex reactor configuration
Granular sludge reactors are more complex to build and maintain than simple CSTRs used in AnMBRs.
AnMBR effectively overcomes these operational challenges, delivering a range of significant performance and reliability benefits.
By consistently achieving COD removal efficiencies even above 98%, AnMBR produces a high‑purity, solids‑free permeate suitable for direct discharge to municipal sewers or to receiving surface waters without further polishing in most cases.
The exceptionally high COD removal, combined with the ability to handle elevated TSS and FOG concentrations with minimal pretreatment, maximizes the conversion of organics into biogas.
UF membranes prevent biomass washout, enabling rapid start-up, fostering specialized microbial communities, and enhancing system resilience to organic or toxic shocks.
By eliminating DAF pretreatment, chemical use is significantly reduced, and the generation of large sludge volumes is avoided.
Tubular crossflow membranes handle poorly filterable anaerobic sludge effectively. High shear at the membrane surface limits fouling, extending filtration cycles, while fully automated CIP minimizes downtime and ensures stable performance
The modular and compact UF skids, high organic loads in the digester, and minimized pre- and post-treatment significantly reduce overall footprint.
The membrane modules are designed for simple, hygienic, and rapid access, ensuring quick inspection and streamlined, hassle-free maintenance.
Crossflow effectively controls membrane fouling, eliminating the need for biogas scouring. This ensures stable filtration and sustained permeate fluxes while simplifying design and reducing operational complexity.
Berghof tubular membranes are engineered for mechanical strength and reliability, resisting stress and breakage. With proven lifetimes of over 8 years, they deliver stable long‑term operation, minimal replacements, and reduced lifecycle costs.
