Integration of Membrane Bioreactor and Reverse Osmosis for Textile Wastewater Treatment and Reclamation: A Pilot-Scale Study

Membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology, a combination of traditional activated sludge and membrane filtration, has been widely used for industrial wastewater treatment and reclamation. This paper highlights a pilot-scale MBR system treating textile wastewater from a textile factory in Taiwan. Over 7 months of continuous operation, the average MBR influent chemical oxygen demand (COD) is 332 mg/L, and the average effluent COD is 38 mg/L, which results in approximately 88% COD removal. A reverse osmosis (RO) module is installed after 2 months of MBR operation and uses the MBR permeate as its influent. The RO produces pure water with average COD, conductivity, and color of 7 mg/L, 16 μS/cm, and 7 Pt-Co, respectively. The RO permeate is suitable for reuse in manufacturing processes, and the RO membrane shows stable performance with TMP, which is less than or equal to 0.5 kg/cm² during the test. The study demonstrates the great feasibility of MBR combined with RO for treating and reclaiming textile wastewater.