MINIMIZATION OF BIOMASS IN AN EXTRACTIVE MEMBRANE BIOREACTOR

Many traditional biological methods for the treatment of wastewater co pe poorly with toxic, volatile organic compounds. The extractive membr ane bioreactor is a novel process for the treatment of industrial wast ewaters containing such compounds which combines extraction across a s ilicone rubber membrane with biodegradation. Previous work has shown t hat there is a problem in this system with excess biofilm growth on th e membrane surface, resulting in reduced flux of organic substrate acr oss the membrane. The work presented here shows that addition of sodiu m chloride to the biomedium increases the maintenance energy requireme nt of the degradative microorganisms and results, in a carbon-limited situation, in a reduction in biofilm growth. Flux of organic substrate was shown to remain high under reduced biofilm growth conditions. Cop yright (C) 1996 IAWQ.