This project supports a cooperative project by Dr. Shih-Wu Sung, Department of Civil and Construction Engineering at Iowa State University (ISU), Ames, Iowa and Dr. Aysenur Ugurlu, Department of Environmental Engineering, Hacettepe University (HU), Ankara, Turkey. They plan to study the use of anaerobic membrane bioreactor (AMBR) in wastewater treatment. The goals are to develop an AMBR system for efficient treatment of low to medium strength wastewater, and to investigate the fouling mechanism and microbial community under a long solids retention time. Anaerobic process for wastewater treatment has several benefits. However, high biomass concentration, and long hydraulic and solids retention times are required for efficient anaerobic treatment due to the low biomass growth. Besides, the effluent quality of the anaerobic effluent is poorer than that of the aerobic treatment. These barriers have limited the wide applications of anaerobic process for the treatment of low strength wastewater. In this respect, membrane separation is an attractive option. However, membrane technology is highly energy intensive process, and the membrane fouling associated with anaerobic process is another issue yet to be resolved. Most importantly, the economy of membrane process is governed by cost of the membrane per se. In this study, the PIs will use non-woven fabric material, a waste material from a fabric industry, to optimize the operational parameters. The AMBR at ISU will be operated using non-woven filter materials while HU will test several commercial membrane modules including tubular and flat type microfiltration. Identical lab-scale AMBRs will be developed at both institutes. The PIs will evaluate optimal operating condition, especially for fouling control in the two studies. The results will be compared and an economic evaluation will be carried out. The project encompasses the skills and experience of respective nation's leading researchers in the areas of anaerobic process. These broader horizons and cross-linkage between ISU and HU researchers represent a synergistic approach to complement the holistic efforts in developing and advancing AMBR process that aims to contribute a new knowledge in environmental engineering.
Scope and broader impact: The project will help to establish a new research area at ISU, which can be used for training undergraduate students for their final year projects. Additionally, summer high school interns will be encouraged to work closely with the graduate student in the AMBR project. A website will be developed within the university portal to disseminate the AMBR research to the students and the public. Through workshops and seminars, the outcomes of this research work will be disseminated to the U.S. environmental engineering communities. The results will benefit both the US and Turkey in developing a long-term research partnership and technology transfer. In the long term, the AMBR research will improve the environmental quality of nation's water bodies.
