MBBR Technology in Wastewater Treatment
Moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) is a biological technology used for wastewater treatment process suitable for municipal and industrial application. Another common name is moving bed film reactor. It was invented in the 1980s. MBBR offer an economical solution for wastewater treatment. STP MBBR technology is the use of a moving bed biofilm reactor in sewage treatment plants.
MBBR wastewater treatment system enables efficient results of the disposal using low energy. The technology is used to separate organic substances, nitrification and denitrification. MBBR design is made of an activated sludge aeration system. The sludge is collected on the plastic carriers which have a large internal surface area. The surface area in the carriers optimizes the contact of water, air, and the bacteria.
MBBR activated sludge is the application of MBBR media to an overloaded treatment plant when upgrading.
MBBR is applicable to the different quality of wastewater treatment. The application is determined by the desired results and regulations controlling discharge. The system can be of more than one stage depending on specific needs. The stages are made of individual tanks separated by screens to ensure that bacteria remain in their specific tank.
MBBR Media Used in Wastewater Treatment
Aeration tank: The tank is similar to an activated sludge tank. The aeration is used to keep in motion the activated sludge and carriers. The MBBR system separates the excess bacteria and sludge which are directed to the final separator.
Special plastic carriers: They provide a surface for biofilm growth. Carrier materials are made of materials with a density close to that of water (1g/cm3) an example is high-density polyethylene (HDPE) with a density of 0.9g/cm3. These carriers are moved in the tank through the aeration system. This ensures good contact between the wastewater and the biomass on the carriers.
Benefits of MBBR Technology
- Saving of space due to its compactness
- Easy to maintain
- Good for a high volume of load
- Extension and expanding are easy. This made possible by increasing the filling degree of carriers.
- Lower discharge costs
- MBBR is not affected by toxic shock
- Independent process performance because there is no return line for sludge; the MBBR eliminates the return activated sludge (RAS)
- It has high effectiveness of sludge retention time (SRT) which enhances the nitrification process
- Production of sludge is lower
- It does not need recycling of the sludge-like activated sludge system
- MBBR media is installed to retrofit existing activated sludge tanks in order to increase its capacity
Design of MBBR Systems
It uses a combination of activated sludge process i.e. suspended growth and biofilter i.e. attached growth. It uses the entire tank volume for biomass growth by implementing the carriers for attached growth of biofilm. Movement of carriers is enabled by air bubbles through agitation.
The reactor can be in any shape and support different load depending on carrier filling. MBBR design of reactor depended on the actual wastewater characteristics and locality. The plants come either with vertical or horizontal mounted rectangular mesh sieves. The reactor can also be fitted with cylindrical bar sieves.
