MABR: A Wastewater Treatment Technology for the Future

Membrane aerated biofilm Reactor (MABR) technology provides a revolutionary improvement in aerobic wastewater treatment for a number of reasons, particularly its high energy efficiency and increased treatment capacity, compared to traditional wastewater treatment systems.

Much of the energy used in aerobic treatment is tied to aeration, the introduction of air bubbles into wastewater via pumps, paddles, and other mechanisms to feed the aerobic bacteria that digest waste. Aeration can be very inefficient.

Fluence’s first municipal installation of MABR was at a small dairy farming community in Israel. The treated effluent meets all quality standards and is suitable for agricultural reuse.

Fluence’s Innovation Advisor Eytan Levy told Sharon Udasin of The Jerusalem Postthat wastewater treatment “is a massive energy consumer […] We’re trying to find technological ways to minimize this power consumption.”

MABR represents one such technological breakthrough. MABR systems passively circulate oxygen through a spirally wound membrane at atmospheric pressure. MABR’s self-respiring membrane allows bacteria to consume oxygen more readily for a 90% reduction in energy used for aeration.

What’s more, the membrane surface quickly accumulates a biofilm of bacteria that establishes a simultaneous nitrification-denitrification (SND) process to produce a high-quality, low-nitrogen effluent suitable for reuse in irrigation. The MABR process is low-maintenance. All of these advantages add to an overall reduction in energy use.

Read full article: Fluence

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Taxonomy

• Biological Treatment
• Decentralized Wastewater
• Waste Water Treatments
• Wastewater Treatment