Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment Plant

7/23/2019 Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment Plant

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CCB 4233

INDUSTRIAL EFFLUENT ENGINEERING

PROJECT 1: PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

GROUP 8

THASARATHAN A/L JAYAKRISHNA 16615

VENNESA JOHNNY TING 16112

WAN MAIZATUL FATHIRAH BINTI WAN ABDUL HALIM 16396

YAU WING TIM 16002

YIM SEE CHENG 16220

Date of Submission: 3rdDecember 2015


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. ii

LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ ii

1.0 DESCRIPTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ........................................... 1

2.0 IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF EFFLUENT IN

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY ...................................................................................... 3

3.0 REGULATION LIMIT .............................................................................................. 6

4.0 PROPOSED TREATMENT STRATEGY .................................................................. 8

4.1 Preliminary Treatment ............................................................................................ 9

4.1.1 Screening ......................................................................................................... 9

4.1.2 Grit Removal ................................................................................................... 9

4.2 Biological Treatment Process ................................................................................ 10

4.2.1 Activated Sludge Treatment Process .............................................................. 10

4.2.2 Membrane Bioreactor Process (MBR) ............................................................ 11

5.0 MAJOR TREATMENT UNIT ................................................................................. 12

5.1 Overview of Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) ........................................................... 12

5.2 Design of Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) ............................................................... 15

5.3 Calculations for Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) ...................................................... 16

5.3.1 Determination of required SADm or SADp .................................................... 16

5.3.2 Determination of membrane air scouring capacity requirement ...................... 17

5.3.3 Determination of aerobic solid retention time ................................................. 17

5.3.4 Designation of aeration system....................................................................... 18

5.3.5 Examples of Calculations ............................................................................... 19

5.4 Operating Variables for Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) .......................................... 22

6.0 SUSTAINABILITY OF DESIGN ............................................................................ 24

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................... 25


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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Effluent Limit for A and C operations .................................................................... 7

Figure 2: Effluent Limit for B and D operations .................................................................... 7

Figure 3: Overall process flow diagram for industrial effluent treatment plant ....................... 8

Figure 4: Activated Sludge Treatment Process .................................................................... 11

Figure 5: Basic principle of membrane filtration.................................................................. 13

Figure 6: (1) Side-stream MBR; (2) Submerged MBR ......................................................... 13

Figure 7: Block diagram of MBR design[10]

........................................................................ 16

Figure 8: Activated-sludge nitrification kinetic coefficients at 20 C ..................................... 21

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Top 25 Pharmaceutical Companies .......................................................................... 2

Table 2: Pharmaceutical industry manufacturing process, input and waste generated[8]

......... 4

Table 3: Characteristics of effluent from pharmaceutical industry

[8]

..................................... 5Table 4: Design data of flat sheet membrane and hollow fiber membrane [10]....................... 15

Table 5: Design parameters, operating and maintenance conditions for MBR technology in

pharmaceutical industry [10] ................................................................................................. 22

Table 6: Characteristics of influent and effluent with MBR[10]

............................................ 23


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1.0 DESCRIPTION OF PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Pharmaceutical firms are engaged in the discovery, manufacturing, and marketing of

legal drugs, biologics (viruses, toxins, serums, and analogous products), vaccines, andmedical devices such as pacemakers and prosthetics. The products are made for both

humans and animals. Pharmaceutical products, both prescription and over the counter

(OTC), account for a large share of the aggregate health care spending and represent

major account items in international trade transactions of developed countries[1].

The pharmaceutical industry is characterized by a high level of concentration with

twenty-five multinational companies dominating the industry. Table 1 shows the

information about these major pharmaceutical companies that are sorted in the order

of their 2014 revenues from the sales of pharmaceutical products. The rankings of the

top 25 pharmaceutical companies have been compiled from GlobalData's

pharmaceutical revenue figures, which are based on sales of prescription medicines,

including generics drugs[2].

Company HQ Location Revenue (million USD)

Novartis Switzerland 47,101

Pfizer US 45,708Roche Switzerland 39,120

Sanofi-Aventis France 36,437

Merck & Co. US 36,042

Johnson & Johnson US 32,313

GlaxoSmithKline UK 29,580

AstraZeneca UK 26,095

Gilead Sciences US 24,474

Takeda Japan 20,446

AbbVie US 20,207Amgen US 19,327

Teva Israel 18,374

Eli Lilly US 17,266

Bristol-Myers Squibb US 15,879

Bayer Germany 15,486

Novo Nordisk Denmark 15,329

Astellas Japan 14,099

Boehringer Ingelheim Germany 13,830

Actavis US 13,062Otsuka Japan 11,308


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Daiichi Sankyo Japan 10,430

Biogen Idec US 9,398

Baxter US 8,831

Merck KGaA Germany 7,678

Table 1: Top 25 Pharmaceutical Companies

Several characteristics distinguish the pharmaceutical industry from other industries.

A newly released pharmaceutical agent is usually available only by physician

prescription. Patients in effect transfer decision-making authority on the

appropriateness of medications for their ailments to the gate-keeping physicians (or

pharmacists and nurses in some countries). Generally, a prescription may become

available OTC (i.e., without physician prescription) for a non-chronic condition that is

relatively easy to self-diagnose and has low potential for harm from self-medication

under conditions of widespread availability[1]

.

Another important industry characteristic is the availability of health insurance

coverage for prescribed medications. Most often, private insurers or government

entities subsidize retail drug purchases. Consumers make a co-payment (a fixed sum

for each prescription regardless of the full price) or pay a coinsurance (a fixed

percentage of the full price) that is less than the full market price. Co-payments tend

to vary depending on the drug classification. Consumer payment of far less than full

cost of prescriptions creates the familiar moral hazard(excessive use) problem[1].


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2.0 IDENTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF EFFLUENT IN

PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Industrial effluent is defined as any wastewater that is produced from any processes

that operate in the industry. Industrial effluent can be produced when process water is

in contact with raw materials, products, intermediates, by-products and waste

products at various operation units[3]

. In pharmaceutical industry, high quality water is

an important raw material for production, cooling and material processing operation

in manufacturing of drugs. In multiproduct pharmaceutical industry, various processes

and sub-processes are required for a wide range of drugs production. Therefore, the

amount of effluent generated is usually in an abundant amount with inadequate

characterization of components existing in product waste. Effluent generated from

pharmaceutical industry which contains contaminants, nutrients, toxin and organics is

a challenge from treatment process.

Effluent from pharmaceutical industry has high concentration of pollutants due to the

presence of non-biodegradable organic matter such as antibiotics, drugs, animal and

plants steroids, hormones, analgesics, heavy metal, spent solvents, reaction residues

and others. Moreover, the effluents normally possess high pH, Chemical Oxygen

Demand (COD) and Total Suspended Solids (TSS). Therefore, effluent treatment

plants (ETPs) is crucial for pharmaceutical industry as it maintain the level of COD

and other parameters by removing any toxic, organics, debris, dirt, grit, pollution and

toxic from effluent[4]. The controlled of effluent parameters is important to meet the

requirement set by regulatory board and minimize pollution problem to the

environments. Different separation techniques are used in ETPs such as evaporation,

drying, centrifugation and filtration for effluent treatment process. After separation

procedure, effluent can be discharged into the environment; however, the

characteristics and composition of effluent varies according to different company.

Effluents discharged are normally classified based on the type of components present

such as antibiotics, prescription and non-prescription drugs present. The growing

demand of various pharmaceutical products such as antibiotics, vaccine and medicine

has led to the released of contaminants into wastewater and then to environment in an

increasing pattern. The volume of contaminants are normally varies from nanogram to

low microgram per liter[5]. The contaminants can bring potential risk to human in


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terms of health impact and ecosystem without any prior notice. Effluent which

contains fluoroquinone antibiotics causes the mutation of bacteria when it is

discharged into river[6]

. Mutated bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics and

finally cannot be cured. Besides that, aquatic organism is more prone to the risk of

exposure with pharmaceutical contaminated water compare to human being.

The current method in ETPs possesses certain challenges and problems which should

be overcome in the future. The high temperature of effluent can cause instantaneously

damaged to aquatic organisms as they may experience thermal shock. Furthermore, a

sudden increase in temperature encourages the growth of water plants and fungus

which affect the balance of ecosystem. Furthermore, certain processes have utilized

an abundant amount of chemical for neutralization process which may increase

treatment cost. Bad odour presents in effluent stream which due to the decomposition

and decay of organic matter[7]. Therefore, advanced technology should be developed

to improve the efficiency of ETPs. The effluent from pharmaceutical industry can also

be known as the influent for wastewater treatment plant. Table 2 shows the process in

pharmaceutical industry manufacturing process and its typical waste generated[8]

.

Manufacturing

ProcessInput substances Waste generated

Chemical reaction Reactants, solvents, catalysts such as benzene,

toluene, methanol, xylene, hydrochloric acid,

chloroform, ethylene glycol

Residues and reactor

bottom wastes

Separation Separation and extraction solvents such as

acetone, hexanes, methanol and toluene

Residues

Purification Solvent for purification process such as methanol,

acetone, toluene and hexanes

Residues

Drying Active drugs and intermediates -

Natural productsextraction

Animal tissues, plant and extraction solvents Spent raw materials

Fermentation Starch, nutrients, phosphates, solvents such as

ethanol, methanol, acetone and amyl alcohol

waste filter cake and

residues

Formulations Sugar syrups for medicine formulations, binders

and drugs

Waste from packaging

and rejected drugs.

Table 2: Pharmaceutical industry manufacturing process, input and waste generated[8]

Researchers have been carried out experiments to determine the characteristics of

effluent from different pharmaceutical plants. Table 3 shows the typicalcharacteristics of the effluents.


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Parameters Characteristics

pH 3.9-4.0

TSS (mg/L) 5460-7370

TDS (mg/L) 2564-3660Total solids 8024-11030

BOD (mg/L) 11200-15660

COD (mg/L) 21960-26000

Colour Dark yellow

Chromium (mg/L) 0.057-1.11

Lead (mg/L) 0.559-6.53

Cadmium (mg/L) 0.036-0.484Nickel (mg/L) 0.892-2.35

Zinc (mg/L) 0.583-0.608

Arsenic (mg/L) 0.0049-0.0076

Phosphate (mg/L) 260-280

Table 3: Characteristics of effluent from pharmaceutical industry[8]


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3.0 REGULATION LIMIT

Organic solvents are widely used in the pharmaceutical production processes. In fact,

this industry is one of the largest users of organic solvent. The usage of organic

solvent comes with a drawback because they can be harmful to the environment and

human health if released unregulated. Therefore, treatment of wastewater from the

industry has to be carried out according to the regulatory limit set by the

environmental agency or the government before the effluent is considered safe to be

released to the environment. The regulatory limit is established to require a minimum

level of treatment for industrial point sources. This limit is usually based upon

demonstrated performance of model process and treatment technologies that are found

to be economically achievable.

Many countries have their own regulatory limit for the industrial activity that takes

place in the country. For this project, the regulatory limit from the United States will

be used as a reference because based on our point of view; the regulatory limit of the

United States covers a wider range as compared to other regulatory limit from other

countries. According to the regulatory limit of the United States for the

pharmaceutical industry, the limit is divided according to different subcategories

which are:-

1. Category A: Fermentation Operations

2. Category B: Biological and Natural Extraction Operations

3. Category C: Chemical Synthesis Operations

4. Category D: Mixing, Compounding and Formulation Operations

5. Category E: Pharmaceutical Research Operations

Besides, the regulatory limit of the United States establishes limitation based on

model process technologies and wastewater treatment technologies hence making it

more reliable and accurate. Therefore, facility owners and operators may use any

combination of process technologies and in-process or end-of-pipe wastewater

treatment technologies to comply with the required limits. The categories of

technologies are:-

1.

BPT: Best practicable control technology


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2. BCT: Best conventional pollutant control technology

3.

BAT: Best available technology economically achievable

4. NSPS: New source performance standards

5. PSES: Pre-treatment standards for existing sources

6.

PSNS: Pre-treatment standards for new sources

For this study, we will be focusing on the limit based on the best available technology

economically achievable. The regulatory limits are as follows:

Figure 1: Effluent Limit for A and C operations

Figure 2: Effluent Limit for B and D operations


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4.0 PROPOSED TREATMENT STRATEGY

A wide variety of products are made in the pharmaceutical industries, typically

requiring large volumes of chemicals, materials, and substances that are used

throughout process operations. Waste streams generated in these industries can be

heavily overloaded with contaminants, toxins, nutrients, and organic content,

presenting unique challenges in terms of treatment, especially as regulations become

more stringent.

Additionally, as is the case in other industrial manufacturing sectors, water is a critical

ingredient in pharmaceutical operations. Consistent and high-quality supplies are

needed for a range of purposes including production, material processing, and

cooling. As disruptions in raw water supply represent a significant concern, more

companies are turning to water efficiency initiatives to help mitigate water scarcity-

related risks. Basically, the treatment processes can be divided into the following

categories:

1.

Preliminary Treatment

2. Primary Treatment

3. Biological Treatment

4.

End Product

Figure below shows the overall process flow diagram for industrial effluent treatment

plant.

Figure 3: Overall process flow diagram for industrial effluent treatment

plant


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4.1 Preliminary Treatment

Preliminary treatment is designed to remove gross, suspended and floating

solids from raw sewage. It includes screening to trap solid objects and

sedimentation by gravity to remove suspended solids. This level is sometimes

referred to as mechanical treatment, although chemicals are often used to

accelerate the sedimentation process. Preliminary treatment can reduce the

BOD of the incoming wastewater by 20-30% and the total suspended solids by

50-60%. Preliminary treatment is usually the first stage of wastewater

treatment. Many advanced wastewater treatment plants in industrialized

countries have started with preliminary treatment, and have then added other

treatment stages as wastewater load has grown and the need for treatment has

increased[9].

4.1.1 Screening

Wastewater contains large solids and grit that can interfere with

treatment processes or cause undue mechanical wear and increased

maintenance on wastewater treatment equipment. To minimize

potential problems, these materials require separate handling.

Screening is the first unit operation used at wastewater treatment plants

(WWTPs). Screening removes objects such as rags, paper, plastics, and

metals to prevent damage and clogging of downstream equipment,

piping, and appurtenances[9].

4.1.2 Grit Removal

Grit includes sand, gravel, cinder, or other heavy solid materials thathave higher specific gravity than the organic biodegradable solids in

the wastewater. Removal of grit prevents unnecessary abrasion and

wear of mechanical equipment, grit deposition in pipelines and

channels, and accumulation of grit in anaerobic digesters and aeration

basins. Grit removal facilities typically precede primary clarification,

and follow screening. This prevents large solids from interfering with

grit handling equipment. In secondary treatment plants without

primary clarification, grit removal should precede aeration[9].


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4.2 Biological Treatment Process

Biological treatment is an important and integral part of any wastewater

treatment plant that treats wastewater from either municipality or industry

having soluble organic impurities or a mix of the two types of wastewater

sources[9]. The obvious economic advantage, both in terms of capital

investment and operating costs, of biological treatment over other treatment

processes like chemical oxidation and thermal oxidation cemented its place in

any integrate wastewater treatment plant over a century.

There are two main processes in the biological treatment process that will be

focused on in this project. They are:

1. Activated Sludge Treatment Process

2. Membrane Bioreactor Process

4.2.1 Activated Sludge Treatment Process

The old treatment plant consisted of an equalization basin,

neutralization, primary sedimentation, roughing biofilter, activated

sludge system, and rock trickling filter with final clarifiers. In the

proposed study, the old activated sludge system, rock filter, and final

clarifier were replaced with a new single-stage, nitrification-activated

sludge system. A schematic diagram of the pilot plant is presented in

the figure below.

The advantages of this process includes it is a chemical-free operation,

it produces extremely pure water, and full efficiency of wastewater

treatment can be obtained instantly.

However, there are some drawbacks resulting from this process. By

applying this process, large amount of sludge will be produced.

Besides that, microbiological contamination of the effluent may be

significant since there is no physical barrier between activated sludge

and treated water.


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Figure 4: Activated Sludge Treatment Process

4.2.2 Membrane Bioreactor Process (MBR)

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology combines biological-

activated sludge process and membrane filtration. MBR technology is

also used in cases where demand on the quality of effluent exceeds the

capability of CAS. With the development of submerged membranes,

firstly introduced by Yamamoto et al., the number of MBRs treating

municipal wastewater increased while the MBR market is currently

experiencing accelerated growth.


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5.0 MAJOR TREATMENT UNIT

From the justifications of the available treatment methods for the treatment of

wastewater from the pharmaceutical industry, the one major process unit that will be

focused on in this project is the membrane bioreactor (MBR). Further descriptions,

design, calculations and operating variables related to MBR are shown below.

5.1 Overview of Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology incorporates biological-activated

sludge process and membrane filtration [10],[11]. It is the most important recent

technological advance developed and applied to fulfill the shortcomings of the

conventional activated sludge (CAS) process in treating wastewater with

varying composition and fluctuating flow rate. MBR has attracted growing

interests with its distinct advantages of smaller footprint, less sludge

production, higher separation efficiency and highly improved effluent quality

as compared to CAS[12]. Due to these reasons, MBR is widely used for

municipal and industrial wastewater treatment especially in the pharmaceutical

industry as it performs excellently in removing pharmaceutically active

compounds, organic matter and suspended solids, nitrification/ denitrification

and phosphorus and more[10].

MBR is a suspended growth-activated sludge system that utilizes microporous

membranes for solid/ liquid separation instead of secondary clarifiers[10]. It is a

physical process where separated compounds remain chemically unchanged.

The fundamental principle lies behind is shown in Figure 5 where feed water

passes through the membrane surface to produce permeate and the rejected

constituents form concentrate or retentate. A membrane is simply a two-

dimensional material used to separate components of fluids based on their

relative size or electrical charge. The transport of only specific compounds

through the membrane is called semi-permeable filtration[10]

.


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Figure 5: Basic principle of membrane filtration

The mass balance of this physical process can be represented by the equation

below

Where = feed flow rate, = solute concentration in feed flow, =

permeate flow rate, = solute concentration in permeate, = concentrate

flow rate and =solute concentration in concentrate.

There are two types of MBR configurations namely: (1) side-stream MBR

with external pressure-driven membrane filtration (2) submerged MBR with

internal vacuum-driven membrane filtration (see Figure 6). Submerged MBR

is more commonly used as compared to side-stream MBR due to its low

energy consumption and fouling on module is less pronounced. Shear

enhancement is important in both configurations as it helps to prevent

membrane fouling with the constituents of mixed liquor by lowering the

permeate flux. Side-stream MBR provides shear through pumping whereas

submerged MBR employs aeration in the bioreactor to provide it[11].

Figure 6: (1) Side-stream MBR; (2) Submerged MBR


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Aforementioned, the performance of MBR may be limited by fouling during

filtration of activated sludge. Fouling occurs in such a way that it reduces long

term flux stability on the membrane surface and within the pores necessitating

membrane cleaning. When cleaning fails to produce adequate flux recovery,

the membrane will have to be replaced. This leads to addition of repair and

maintenance cost to the overall cost. As a result to that, several techniques are

employed to reduce fouling which are reduction of flux, promotion of

turbulence to limit the thickness of the boundary layer, and periodical

application of cleaning measures to remove the cake layer and foulants[11].

MBR is highly recommended to be used in the pharmaceutical industry due to

its capability in removing pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs) and

other organic compounds effectively. Most pharmaceutical substances are

biologically act ive and persistent to avoid degradation before transmitting its

curing effect. For this reason, pharmaceutical residuals are usually not

completely degraded or retained by adsorption to sludge but end up in

receiving waters. MBR is able to enhance trace-organic removal to a greater

extent as it has higher sludge age, higher biomass concentration, complete

retention of solids and microorganisms, etc. Several studies have been carriedout to verify the performance of MBR in the elimination of PhACs such as

lipid regulators and cholesterol lowering statin drugs, -blockers, antibiotics,

anti-ulcer agent, analgesics and anti-inflammatory drugs[10]. Studies show that

the COD removal efficiencies of MBR can achieve a percentage of 93.7 to

97.8%[13]

. Besides, problem of large amount of sludge recycling and sludge

disposal in the conventional activated sludge process can also be reduced to a

great extent, that is, 0.027g VSS (volatile suspended solids)/g COD removed.

In addition, shock in organic loading does not result in a failure of the

capability of MBR to treat the water.

Hence, complete solids removal, significant disinfection capability, high rate

and high efficiency organic removal and small footprint have made MBR an

excellent treatment solution to cope with the growing needs for transforming

wastewater into clean water in the pharmaceutical industry.


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5.2 Design of Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

Four key parameters are important for the operation and maintenance of MBR

such as flux, permeability, aeration, clean frequency and protocol[11]

. Among

the parameters mentioned, design flux is a very important parameter in

designing a membrane bioreactor (MBR). The stability of the process is

greatly influenced by design flux as stability increases with lower design

flux[11]. Moreover, the determination of area for MBR design should be

constrained by budget available and risk level.

Flux can be defined as volume per area per unit time in which to express the

rate at which wastewater permeates a membrane in MBR. SADp is a key

indicator in MBR technology with respect to air supply. It is defined as the

ratio of membrane aeration demand to flux. In designing MBR, low-fouling

membrane and efficient membrane air scour reduces SADp and further reduces

energy demand which enable it to emerge as an important wastewater

treatment method in industry compare to others such as Activated Sludge

Process (ASP). Furthermore SADm indicates the flowrate of air scour per

membrane area. This parameter is necessary to aerate the membrane unit in

MBR in order to remove solids particles[11]. A comparison study is tabulated

in Table 4 regarding the design of flux, permeability, SAD mand SADpin two

different configurations of MBR technology which are flat sheet membrane

and hollow fibre membrane.

ConfigurationsFlux,

LMH

Permeability,

LMH/bar

SADm

[Nm3/(m

2.h)

SADp

Flat Sheet

MembraneMean 19.4 261 0.57 27.5

Hollow Fibre

MembraneMean 19.5 104 0.30 15.4

Table 4: Design data of flat sheet membrane and hollow fiber membrane[10]


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Besides that, the design of MBR can be summarized as shown in the block

diagram in Figure 7 with material balance shown. This designed is referred to

the calculations done based on Kubota 515 Panel RM/RW Module[11]

.

Vanoxic tank = Volume of anoxic tank

V aeration tank = Volume of aeration tank

V membrane tank,min = Minimum volume of membrane tank

Figure 7: Block diagram of MBR design

[10]

5.3 Calculations for Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

5.3.1 Determination of required SADm or SADp

Specific air demand based on membrane area (SADm) is defined as scouring

air flow rate per membrane area. SADm does not reflect the cost performance

of a specific membrane as it is not sensitive to flux and the air pressure

required. It is the ratio of QA to membrane area.

Where, QA is membrane aeration rate (m3/hr) and Am is total membrane

surface area (m2).

The specific air demand based on permeate volume (SADp)is defined as

scouring air volume per permeate volume. SADPis often used to compare the

air utilization efficiencies of membranes.

V aeration tank =

10156.48m

3

Vanoxic tank=

7555.6m

3

V membrane tank,min =

1825m3 (Kubota)Q influent =2518.5 m3/h

Q sludge wastage rate

= 1144.7m3/h

Effluent

Recycle ratio=1.54

Recycle ratio=4
http://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htmhttp://onlinembr.info/Cost/SAD%20in%20literature.htm


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Where, QAiris air flow rate (m3/hr), J is flux (m/hr) and Amis total membrane

surface area (m2).

5.3.2 Determination of membrane air scouring capacity requirement

Designing air scouring system is one of the key technical challenges in MBR.

Air flow rate must be uniform among nozzles so that the membranes above the

nozzles are evenly scoured. Otherwise, a localized membrane fouling occurs

where the scouring air is not sufficient. The air scour energy in a MBR system

causes a high turbulent and surface contact to remove solid particles that

attach to the surface of the membrane as well as to protect from membrane

fouling which might cause lower production, lower membrane life and greater

operational cost. In order to determine the total net amount of air required to

perform biological treatment, calculation for the Mo(Oxygen requirement for

biological treatment) and Mm (Oxygen transferred by membrane aeration)

should be done.

In addition, aeration plays a vital role in the designation of membrane surface.

The membrane modules must be designed efficiently to maximize the mass

transfer in the internal spaces of membrane module thus allowing a systematic

use of scouring air. The submerged membrane typically needs a coarse bubble

aeration (air scouring) to remove flocculants and if the designation is not done

properly it might run inefficiently, causing a hike in energy bills and affects

the overall turndown capabilities.

In addition, in the case of hollow fiber membrane, rising bubbles also increase

random fiber movement that causes acceleration and deceleration of fibers in

liquid, which greatly increases the anti-fouling effect.

5.3.3 Determination of aerobic solid retention time

Assumptions:

Temperature below 280C.

Excess DO to supply the active microorganisms enough oxygen for

biochemical reaction


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Where,

n = specific growth rate of nitrifying bacteria, g new cells/ g cells.d

nm = maximum specific growth rate of nitrifying bacteria, g new cells/ g

cells.d

N = Nitrogen concentration, g/m3

Kn = Half velocity constant, substrate concentration at one-half the

maximum specific substrate utilization rate, g/m3

kdn = Endogenous decay coefficient for nitrifying organisms, g VSS/ g

VSS.d

But for fully complete-mix activated sludge nitrification system, at

temperature below 25C with sufficient DO present, nitrification rates are

affected by the liquid DO concentration in activated sludge. To account for the

effects of DO, the expression for the specific growth rate described above is

modified as follows:

Where DO = dissolved oxygen concentration, g/m3

K0= half-saturation coefficient for DO, g/m3

5.3.4 Designation of aeration system

Same like all aerobic biological systems, the biomass contained in the MBR

needs to have a continuous amount of oxygen supply to carry out its chemical

reactions. The appropriate amount oxygen must be supplied to all the

microorganisms and wastewater to carry out these demands:

Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (BOD): conversion of the

carbonaceous organic matter in wastewater to cell tissue and various

gaseous end products

n = (nmN / Kn +N ) - kdn

n = (nmN / Kn +N ) ( DO / KO +DO ) - kdn


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Nitrogenous BOD: ammonical nitrogen is oxidized to the intermediate

product nitrite, which is then converted to nitrate; this process is

nitrification

Inorganic chemical oxygen demand (COD): oxidation of reducedinorganic compounds within the wastewater.

5.3.5 Examples of Calculations

Assumptions:

1.

Flux for the system, J is 10 L/m2.h

2. Average flow of wastewater is 70 Nm3/h and 30 m

3/h

3. Area of membrane = 240 m2

4. Packing density of membranes is 115 m2/m

3

5. The initial soluble BOD, So = 150 g/m3and the final soluble BOD, S =

15 g/m3

6. DO concentration in the influent = 1.5 g/m3

7. Mass of mixed liquid suspended solid, MLSS = 250 kg/d with density

of 8 kg/m3

8. Nitrogen concentration, N = 1.0 g/m3

9.

Space time, is 3 hours

The energy demand for the aeration system can be determined via the specific

aeration demand (SAD) with reference to the volume of wastewater intake.

SADp =

(m3 of Air / m3of permeate)

=

= 29.2 m3of Air / m

3of permeate

To calculate the total membrane area required,

Am =

=

= 3000 m2


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Since the area of one membrane unit = 240 m2

Nmembrane=

= 10.4

= 11 membranes

To calculate the minimum volume of the membrane tank,

Vmin =

=

= 26.1 m3

To calculate the growth rate at 12C,

nm = (

) x (1.07)12-20

= 0.44 g/g.d

Kn = 0.74 g/m3x (1.053)12-20

= 0.49 g/m3

Kdn = 0.08 g/g.d x (1.04)12-20

= 0.06 g/g.d

Substituting these values into the equation above, the n is calculated to be

0.672g/g.d

Given that the solid retention time,

SRT =

=

= 1.49 days

Multiplying with a scaling factor of 1.25,


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SRT = 1.49 days x 1.25

= 1.86 days

Given that the mass of MLSS = 250 kg/d @ 8 kg/m3, the volume required for

the aerobic tank =

Vaer = 250 kg/d x 1.86 d

= 465.03 kg 8 kg/m3

= 58.13 m3

Given that flow rate of influent = 30m3/h,

Vano = Q x

= 30m3/h x 3h

= 90 m3

Figure 8: Activated-sludge nitrification kinetic coefficients at 20 C


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5.4 Operating Variables for Membrane Bioreactor (MBR)

The detailed design parameters, operating and maintenance condition of MBR

in pharmaceutical industry for effluent treatment is tabulated in Table 5. It

shows the design data of a well-known MBR manufacturer in Italy which is

Kubota. This represents the typical parameters for the design of MBR

technology in pharmaceutical industry.

Design Parameters Data

Membrane aeration capacity (Nm3/h) 90-180

Biological aeration capacity (Nm3/h) 160

F/M ratio 0.04-0.18

HRT (h) 10.2-15.4

SRT (day) 27-70

MLSS (g/L) 10.5-12

Chemical cleaning reagents

(Clean frequency and protocol)

NaOCI, 0.5% followed by 1% Oxalic acid

(Backflow and soaking for 2 horus)

SADm(Nm /hm ) 0.75

SADp(Nm3air/m3permeate) 60-90

Mean permeability 200-250 without relaxation

LMH/bar 500-800 with relaxation

Permeability decline kt, LMH/(barh) 1.5

Table 5: Design parameters, operating and maintenance conditions for MBR technology

in pharmaceutical industry[10]

The constituent of influent and effluent after treatment process through MBRprocess is tabulated as below in Table 6 based on the block diagram of MBR

design. Based on Table 6, the difference between parameters of influent and

effluent constituent from MBR technology is obvious in terms of its BOD,

COD, TSS and TKN value. Total Kjedaldahl Nitrogen (TKN) is defined as the

sum of nitrogen, ammonia and ammonium content in wastewater. The

reduction of concentration in each constituent shows that MBR is effective in

treating the wastewater content from pharmaceutical industry based on the

design carried out by using Kubota Module.


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Constituent Unit Influent Effluent Typical effluent

quality from MBR

BOD5 g/m 153.3 0 5

COD g/m 284.9 45 -Total suspended solids

(TSS)

g/m 92.5 3.94 5

Total Kjedaldahl nitrogen

(TKN)

g/m 33.8 3.9 -

Table 6: Characteristics of influent and effluent with MBR[10]


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6.0 SUSTAINABILITY OF DESIGN

Due to global environmental concerns, it is highly beneficial if wastewater effluent is

selectively reuse for agriculture and industrial purposes or utilized as low cost

substrates for energy production and value added products[12].

1. MBR utilization for biofuel production

Biogas is renewable fuel produced from the activity of methanogen. MBR

stands a potential in biofuel production with its anaerobic biological

process for wastewater treatment.

2. Electricity production

There is a restriction in the application of MBR which is the high energy

consumption, estimated at 0.8-1.1 kWh/. The use of microbial fuel cells

(MFC) with MBR is able to convert chemical energy in organic matters

into electrical energy by catalytic reaction of microorganisms. In other

words, MFC can provide clean and safe energy, quiet performance, low

emissions and ease the operation of treatment.

3. Nutrients and metals recovery

Phosphorus recovered via MBR can be used for food production, primarily

for the production of fertilizer and animal feed additions. Besides, studies

also show that MBR is able to recover nitrogen from the effluent for a

fraction of about 90%.

All in all, the attractive advantages and interesting engineering characteristics of

membrane bioreactor (MBR) have great potential to play a vital role in wastewater

treatment for sustainable development and green tomorrow.


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REFERENCES

1. Gale, T., Pharmaceutical Industry, in International Encyclopedia of the Social

Sciences. 2008.

2. PMLiVE. Top 25 Pharma Companies by Global Sales. 2015 [cited 2015 November

14]; Available from:http://www.pmlive.com/top_pharma_list/global_revenues#.

3. C, G., et al., Pharmaceutical industry wastewater: Review of the technologies for

water treatement and reuse.Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 2014. 53:

p. 11571-11592.

4. Deschamps, E., et al., Managemennt of effluents and waste from pharmaceutical

industry in Minas Gerais, Brazil.Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2012.

48(4): p. 727-736.

5. Kavitha, R.V., V.K. Makam, and K.a. Asith, Physio-Chemical analysis of effluents

from pharmaceutical industry and its efficiency study. International Journal of

Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA), 2012. 2(2): p. 103-110.

6. Adebayo, G.B., et al., Assessment and biological treatment of effluent from a

pharmaceutical industry.Scholars Research Library, 2014. 1(4): p. 28-33.

7. HyCa Technologies PVT LTD. 2015, HyCa Technologies PVT LTD.

8. Rana, R.S., et al.,A review on characterization and bioremediation of pharmaceutical

industries' wastewater: an Indian perspective.Applied Water Science, 2014.

9. Zaerpour, M., Design, Cost & Benefit Analysis of a Membrane Bioreactor. 2013-

2014, Department of Environmental and Geomatic Engineering.

10. J, R., Membrane Bioreactor ( MBR ) as an Advanced Wastewater Treatment

Technology.2008. 5: p. 37-101.

11. Zaerpour, M., Design, cost & benefit analysis of a membrane bioreactor. 2014,

Department of Environmental and Geomatic Enginering, Politecnico di Milano:

Milano.
http://www.pmlive.com/top_pharma_list/global_revenueshttp://www.pmlive.com/top_pharma_list/global_revenues


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12. H., N.C., et al., Green technology in wastewater treatment technologies: Integration

of membrane bioreactor with various wastewater treatment systems,. Chemical

Engineering Journal, 2015. 283: p. 582-594.

13. K, G.S. and H. Y, 5 Treatment of Pharmaceutical Wastes.Waste Treat. Process Ind,

2006: p. 167-233.

Pharmaceutical Wastewater Treatment Plant

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