Detachment mechanism and energy consumption model for the ex-situ rinsing process in membrane bioreactors

In this paper, underlying mechanism of the detachment of foulant particles from the planar surface was analyzed. Meanwhile a new mathematical model was proposed, from an energy viewpoint, to study the variation of energy consumption in the rinsing process. The surface properties of the effluent suspensions at various rinsing time were systematically measured and the interaction energy between different foulant layers were analyzed in detail. The results showed that the model simulation could predict reasonably the energy consumption in the rinsing process under different conditions (R² > 0.97). Moreover, the reliability of the model was evaluated by model parameters and model constraints. Additionally, the wide adaptability of the proposed model was verified by considering the planar surface was random rough (R² > 0.97) and the situation of real wastewater as feed suspension (R² > 0.98). Furthermore, the actual energy consumption for foulant particles breaking away from the planar surface was also analyzed. This paper would provide a novel approach for comprehensive understanding the ex-situ rinsing process in membrane bioreactors.