Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Tracking variations in fluorescent-dissolved organic matter in an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor using excitation–emission matrix spectra combined with parallel factor analysis

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, the variations in the fluorescent components of dissolved organic matter (DOM) were tracked for an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR) at three different operation stages (cake layer formation, condensation, and after cleaning). The fluorescent DOM was characterized using excitation–emission matrix (EEM) spectroscopy combined with parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Non-aromatic carbon structures appear to be actively involved in the membrane fouling for the cake layer formation stage as revealed by much higher UV-absorbing DOM per organic carbon found in the effluent versus those inside the reactor. Four fluorescent components were successfully identified from the reactor and the effluent DOMs by EEM-PARAFAC modeling. Among those in the reactor, microbial humic-like fluorescence was the most abundant component at the cake layer formation stage and tryptophan-like fluorescence at the condensation stage. In contrast to the reactor, relatively similar composition of the PARAFAC components was exhibited for the effluent at all three stages. Tryptophan-like fluorescence displayed the largest difference between the reactor and the effluent, suggesting that this component could be a good tracer for membrane fouling. It appears that the fluorescent DOM was involved in membrane fouling by cake layer formation rather than by internal pore adsorption because its difference between the reactor and the effluent was the highest among all the four components, even after the membrane cleaning. Our study provided an insight into the fate and the behavior fluorescent DOM components for an MBR system, which could be an indicator of the membrane fouling.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Le-Clech P, Chen V, Fane TAG (2006) Fouling in membrane bioreactors used in wastewater treatment. J Membr Sci 284:17–53

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Tang S, Wang Z, Wu Z, Zhou Q (2010) Role of dissolved organic matters (DOM) in membrane fouling of membrane bioreactors for municipal wastewater treatment. J Membr Sci 178:377–384

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Yao M, Ladewig B, Zhang K (2011) Identification of the change of soluble microbial products on membrane fouling in membrane bioreactor (MBR). Desalination 278:126–131

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Barker DJ, Stuckey DC (1999) A review of soluble microbial products (SMP) in wastewater treatment systems. Water Res 33:3064–3082

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hong S, Aryal R, Vigneswaran S, Johir MAH, Kandasamy J (2012) Influence of hydraulic retention time on the nature of foulant organics in a high rate membrane bioreactor. Desalination 287:116–122

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kimura K, Naruse T, Watanabe Y (2009) Changes in characteristics of soluble microbial products in membrane bioreactors associated with different solid retention times: relation to membrane fouling. Water Res 43:1033–1039

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang Z, Wu Z, Tang S (2009) Characterization of dissolved organic matter in a submerged membrane bioreactor by using three-dimensional excitation and emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy. Water Res 43:1533–1540

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wang Z, Tang S, Zhu Y, Wu Z, Zhou Q, Yang D (2010) Fluorescent dissolved organic matter variations in a submerged membrane bioreactor under different sludge retention times. J Membr Sci 355:151–157

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Meng F, Zhou Z, Ni BJ, Zheng X, Huang G, Jia X, Li S, Kraume M (2011) Characterization of the size-fractionated biomacromolecules: tracking their role and fate in a membrane bioreactor. Water Res 45:4661–4671

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Choi BG, Cho J, Song KG, Maeng SK (2013) Correlation between effluent organic matter characteristics and membrane fouling in a membrane bioreactor using advanced organic matter characterization tools. Desalination 309:74–83

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hur J, Cho J (2012) Prediction of BOD, COD, and total nitrogen concentrations in a typical urban river using a fluorescence excitation-emission matrix with PARAFAC and UV absorption indices. Sensors 12:972–986

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Li WH, Sheng GP, Liu XW, Yu HQ (2008) Characterizing the extracellular and intracellular fluorescent products of activated sludge in a sequencing batch reactor. Water Res 42:3173–3181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Yu GH, He PJ, Shao LM (2010) Novel insights into sludge dewaterability by fluorescence excitation–emission matrix combined with parallel factor analysis. Water Res 44:797–806

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Galinha CF, Carvalho G, Portugal CAM, Guglielmi G, Reis MAM, Crespo JG (2012) Multivariate statistically-based modelling of a membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment using 2D fluorescence monitoring data. Water Res 46:3623–3636

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Zhang J, Chua HC, Fane AG (2006) Factors affecting the membrane performance in submerged membrane bioreactors. J Membr Sci 284:54–66

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. American Public Health Association (APHA), American Water Works Association (AWWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF) (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 20th edn. APHA/AWWA/WEF, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  17. Hur J, Hwang SJ, Shin JK (2008) Using synchronous fluorescence technique as a water quality monitoring tool for an urban river. Water Air Soil Pollut 191:231–243

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Ishii SKL, Boyer TH (2012) Behavior of reoccurring PARAFAC components in fluorescent dissolved organic matter in natural and engineered systems: a critical review. Environ Sci Technol 46:2006–2017

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Zsolnay A, Baigar E, Jimenez M, Steinweg B, Saccomandi F (1999) Differentiating with fluorescence spectroscopy the sources of dissolved organic matter in soils subjected to drying. Chemosphere 38:45–50

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Simon J (2011) The MBR book: principles and applications of membrane bioreactors for water and wastewater treatment, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  21. Song KG, Cho J, Ahn KH (2009) Effects of internal recycling time mode and hydraulic retention time on biological nitrogen and phosphorus removal in a sequencing anoxic/anaerobic membrane bioreactor process. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 32:135–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Cho J, Song KG, Ahn KH (2009) Contribution of microfiltration on phosphorus removal in the sequencing anoxic/anaerobic membrane bioreactor. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 32:593–602

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Yigit NO, Harman I, Civelekoglu G, Koseoglu H, Cicek N, Kitis M (2008) Membrane fouling in a pilot-scale submerged membrane bioreactor operated under various conditions. Desalination 231:124–132

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Zhang Y, Zhang H, Chu H, Zhou X, Zhao Y (2013) Characterization of dissolved organic matter in a dynamic membrane bioreactor for wastewater treatment. Chin Sci Bull 15:1717–1724

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Weishaar JL, Aiken GR, Bergamaschi BA, Fram MS, Fujii R, Mopper K (2003) Evaluation of specific ultraviolet absorbance as an indicator of the chemical composition and reactivity of dissolved organic carbon. Environ Sci Technol 37:4702–4708

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Fuentes M, Gonzalez-Gaitano G, Ma Garcia-Mina J (2006) The usefulness of UV–visible and fluorescence spectroscopies to study the chemical nature of humic substances from soils and composts. Org Geochem 37:1949–1959

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Zhou Z, Meng F, Chae SR, Huang G, Fu W, Jia X, Li S, Chen GH (2013) Microbial transformation of biomacromolecules in a membrane bioreactor: implications for membrane fouling investigation. PLoS One 7:e42270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Zhang Y, van Dijk MA, Liu M, Zhu G, Qin B (2009) The contribution of phytoplankton degradation to chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in eutrophic shallow lakes: field and experimental evidence. Water Res 43:4685–4697

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. Fellman JB, Hood E, Spencer RGM (2010) Fluorescence spectroscopy opens new windows into dissolved organic matter dynamics in freshwater ecosystems: a review. Limnol Oceanogr 55(6):2452–2462

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Chen M, Price RM, Yamashita Y, Jaffé R (2010) Comparative study of dissolved organic matter from groundwater and surface water in the Florida coastal Everglades using multi-dimensional spectrofluorometry combined with multivariate statistics. Appl Geochem 25:872–880

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Drews A, Mante J, Inversen V, Vocks M, Lesjean B, Kraume M (2007) Impact of ambient conditions on SMP elimination and rejection in MBRs. Water Res 41:3850–3858

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Korean Government (No. NRF-2011-0029028 and No. 2012R1A1A1006307).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environment and Energy, Sejong University, 98 Gunja-Dong, Gwangjin-Gu, Seoul, 143-747, Republic of Korea

    Jin Hur, Jaewon Shin, Minsun Kang & Jinwoo Cho

Authors
  1. Jin Hur
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jaewon Shin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Minsun Kang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Jinwoo Cho
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jinwoo Cho.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hur, J., Shin, J., Kang, M. et al. Tracking variations in fluorescent-dissolved organic matter in an aerobic submerged membrane bioreactor using excitation–emission matrix spectra combined with parallel factor analysis. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 37, 1487–1496 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-013-1120-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-013-1120-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation