Investigation of influence of nano H-ZSM-5 and NH4-ZSM-5 zeolites on membrane fouling in semi batch MBR

The objectives of this research were the reduction of membrane fouling and improvement of sludge properties by using synthesized H-ZSM-5 and NH₄-ZSM-5 zeolites. These two nano zeolites were synthesized and added to the membrane bioreactor (MBR). Three similar MBRs with the same operational condition were used in order to evaluate their effect on the mentioned matters. The evaluated parameters were trans-membrane pressure (TMP), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), particle size distribution (PSD), soluble microbial product (SMP), extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and, excitation-emission matrix (EEM). The MBR₀ was without any additional zeolite while 0.4 g/L of H-ZSM-5 and NH₄-ZSM-5 were added to MBR_HZSM-5 and MBR_NH4ZSM-5, respectively. The COD removal of the MBR₀, MBRH-ZSM-5 and MBR_NH4-ZSM-5 were 87.5%, 93.3% and 94.6%, respectively. The TMP of the MBR_H-ZSM-5 was 45% less than MBR0 whereas the reduction for MBRNH4-ZSM-5 was 65.5%. Also results showed that both H-ZSM-5 and NH4-ZSM-5 caused reduction in protein and polysaccharide related EPS but the NH₄-ZSM-5 had better performance toward the elimination of organic compounds.