Chemistry Research Journal, 2017, 2(4):91-97

Available online www.chemrj.org

ISSN: 2455-8990
Research Article CODEN(USA): CRJHA5

CFD Modeling of Biofouling in Membrane Bioreactor (MBR) with COMSOL Multiphysics

software

Nima Nazari*1, Mahdi Naseryar1, Alireza Bayat2, Maliheh Torki2, Moein Shahriyari3,
Maryam Ghiassvand4, Khashayar Majedinasab5

1
Department of Chemical Engineering, Islamic Azad University- South Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
2
Department of Chemical Engineering, Islamic Azad University- Farahan Branch, Markazi, Iran
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universidad Politecnica de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
4
Department of Biochemistry, Universität Bremen, Bremen, Germany
5
Department of Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Abstract Today, membrane bioreactors have been used extensively in the water and wastewater treatment industry
due to their proper function. Thus, the study on them seems to be necessary. In this research, a brief description of
the membrane bioreactor and its application is first given, and then the various types of fouling in the membrane
bioreactor (MBR) are investigated. Membrane bioreactors have been used to make tubular membranes. Tubular
membranes are susceptible to fouling due to their shape. The most important membrane fouling agents in the
membrane bioreactor are biological materials. Biological materials are consist of Extracellular Polymeric
Substances (EPS) and Soluble Microbial Products (SMP). The fouling of Biological materials is called Biofouling.
The fouling process mechanism for EPS is different from SMP. These various mechanisms cause different results in
laboratory research and modeling. In the following these results are compared with each other and the main cause of
biological fouling in the membrane bioreactor is introduced. The most important parameter to compare fouling from
EPS and SMP is the amount of flux reduction across the membrane. In this research, COMSOL Multiphysics
software is used to simulate processes.

Keywords Membrane Bioreactor, Biofouling, Extracellular Polymeric Substances, Soluble Microbial Products,
COMSOL Multiphysics, Modeling.
1. Introduction
Membrane technology for the first time used in environmental engineering, in water treatment field. Membranes
were used to removal of specific compounds, including salinity and biological contamination. The use of MBR as a
high-quality refinement method quickly expanded. Gradually, the trade samples of MBR units were built about 20
years ago. Membrane bioreactor, or MBR, is defined as a system that uses a membrane instead of a secondary
diluter in the process of separating the solid phase from the liquid. If the secondary diluter and membrane are used
together, the system is not called a membrane bioreactor. The reason for removing the secondary diluter is that in
addition to the sedimentation role, MBR also plays the role of disinfection. The use of membrane bioreactors in the
water treatment process has solved many of the problems associated with active sludge process, which is mainly
related to the separation of sludge from treated wastewater. In the membrane bioreactor for the separation of sludge

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from treated wastewater, instead of using the sedimentation process, the membrane separation process is used. The
idea of using a filtration method instead of a sedimentation method was first proposed by Smith and his colleagues
in 1969 [1]. Application of membrane bioreactors include: 1- In the process of urban wastewater treatment. 2- In the
process of industrial wastewater treatment. 3- In the process of refining the municipal solid waste.

1.1. Study of Concentration Polarization and Fouling Phenomenon

The fluid velocity at the membrane surface is reduced, when the flow of fluid in the membrane is turbulent.Exposed
components are accumulated near the membrane surface. This accumulation is called concentration polarization,
which has serious consequences for membrane processes.However, if the flow rate is high, these compounds are
immediately transferred to the fluid mass and their accumulation near the membrane surface is limited. If the
phenomenon of concentration polarization continues, it leads to the fouling of the membrane surface. The results of
the occurrence of fouling are: [2] 1- Reduction of flux passing through the membrane over time. 2- Change the
power of the material to be repaired by the membrane and thereby reduce the efficiency. 3- Decrease membrane life.
4- Need to increase the pressure required for the process. 5- Need more membrane cleaning.
Generally, fouling can be divided into the following types: 1- Sediments 2- Biological materials 3-Suspended solids
4- Colloidal materials 5- Metal oxides 6- Oils and greases. Due to the fact that biological foulingis caused by
biological materials, this study only deals with this kind of fouling.

1.2. Study of fouling by biological materials

The growth of biological materials on the surface of the membrane causes this kind of fouling, Which includes: iron
reducing bacteria, sulfur reducing bacteria, microbacteria and metabolic products of these bacteria. The biological
contamination of membranes is dependent on the composition of membrane materials. EPS and SMP are the most
important causes of biological fouling.

2. Modeling and Methods

2.1. Main Equations
Following equations are used for modeling the biofouling in the Tubular Membranes. The production rate of SMP
is calculated from the Leudeking-piret equation [3]:
𝑑𝑆 𝑆𝑀𝑃 𝑑𝑥 𝑑𝑆 𝑈𝐴𝑃 𝑑𝑆 𝐵𝐴𝑃
𝑟𝑆𝑀𝑃 = =𝛼 + 𝛽𝑥 = + (1)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
Where 𝑟𝑆𝑀𝑃 is the SMP production rate, 𝑆𝑆𝑀𝑃 is the SMP concentration in the fluid mass 𝑆𝑈𝐴𝑃 is the UAP
concentration in the fluid mass, 𝑆𝐵𝐴𝑃 is the BAP concentration in the fluid mass, 𝛼 is the UAP Impact form and 𝛽is
the BAP Impact form.
Also the rate of EPS production is calculated by the Laspidou-Rittmann equation [3]
𝑑𝑥 𝐸𝑃𝑆 𝑑𝑥
𝑟𝐸𝑃𝑆 = = 𝛼′ 𝑘ℎ𝑦𝑑 𝑥𝐸𝑃𝑆 (2)
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡
Where 𝑟𝐸𝑃𝑆 is the EPS production rate, 𝑥𝐸𝑃𝑆 is the EPS mass concentration and 𝛼′ is the EPS Impact form, 𝑘ℎ𝑦𝑑 is
the EPS hydrolysis rate.
In this figure, schematic view of the membrane module can be seen:

Figure 1: Schematic view of the membrane module [4]

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The cake layer with constant resistivity can be calculated based on Darcy's law, given that our model has the series
resistance [5]:
𝑅𝑡 = 𝑅𝑚 + 𝑅𝑓 + 𝑅𝑐 (3)
Where 𝑅𝑡 is the total resistance, 𝑅𝑐 is the cake resistance, 𝑅𝑚 is the clean membrane resistance,𝑅𝑓 is the resistance due
to membrane internal fouling.
∆𝑃
𝐽= (4)
𝜇 R𝑚 + R𝑓 + R𝑐

This equation is indicatetive of Darcy law where: 𝐽 is the permeation flux, ∆𝑃 is the transmembrane pressure and 𝜇
is the dynamic viscosity of permeate. The following equation is obtained by the relationship between cake resistance
𝑅𝑐 and cake special resistance 𝑘𝑐 in terms of the mass balance [1].
𝐻0 + 𝛿 𝑐
𝑅𝑐 = 𝑘𝑐 𝐻0 𝑙𝑛 (5)
𝐻0
Where 𝑘𝑐 is the specific cake resistance, 𝐻0 is the channel height and 𝛿𝑐 is the cake thickness. The overall mass
balance for the liquid phase assuming an incompressible fluid is as follows [3].
𝑄𝐹 = 𝑄𝑝 + 𝑄𝑅 (6)
Where 𝑄𝐹 is the total feed flow rate, 𝑄𝑝 is the permeation flow rate, 𝑄𝑅 is the retentate flow rate. Also the mass
balance for the solid particles can be written as follows [3,4]:
𝑑
𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝐹 𝑄𝐹 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑅 𝑄𝑅 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑃 𝑄𝑃 = 𝜌𝑃 𝜋 𝑟𝑚 + 𝛿𝑐 2 𝐿𝜑𝑐 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜋𝑟𝑚 2 𝐿𝜑𝑐 (7)
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝛿 𝑐
𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝐹 𝑄𝐹 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑅 𝑄𝑅 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑃 𝑄𝑃 = 2𝜋 𝑟𝑚 + 𝛿𝑐 𝐿𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑐 (8)
𝑑𝑡
𝑑 𝛿𝑐
𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝐹 𝑄𝐹 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑅 𝑄𝑅 − 𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑃 𝑄𝑃 = 2𝜋𝑟𝑚 𝐿𝜌𝑃 𝜑𝑐 (9)
𝑑𝑡
Where 𝜌𝑃 is the particle density, 𝜑𝐹 is the Solid concentration of feed suspension in volume percentage, 𝜑𝑅 is the
solid concentration of the suspension at module outlet in volume percentage, 𝜑𝑃 is the solid concentration of
permeate product in volume percentage, 𝜑𝑐 is the solid concentration of the cake in volume percentage, 𝑟𝑚 is the
external radius of the membrane and 𝐿 is the membrane length. Also the parameter of concentration of solids can be
calculated as follows [3,4]:
𝐶𝑖
𝜑𝑖 = 𝑖 = 𝐹, 𝑃, 𝑅 (10)
𝜌𝑠
Where 𝐶𝑖 is the particle concentration and 𝜌𝑠 is the particle density.

2.2. Simulation
The simulation of fouling of EPS and SMP in the membrane bioreactor is utilized by the Comsol software version
5.2.

2.3. Geometry
The two-dimensional (2D) symmetric system is considered, because the geometry of the system is cylindrical, which
has three parts: Feed, Porous media (membrane) and Permeate. The type of membrane used is tubular and the flow
type is cross-flow. The geometry specifications are presented in the following table:

Table 1: The geometry specifications

Media Width (m) Height (m)
Feed 0.0008 0.1
Membrane 0.00003 0.1
Permeate 0.0004 0.1
In the following figure, the geometry view is shown in the software media:

For the feed and permeate parts, the Laminar flow and Transport of Diluted Species models and also for the
membrane part, Free and Porous Media Flow and Transport of Diluted Species in Porous Media models are used.

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Figure 2: Geometry of system in the COMSOL area

2.4. Meshing
Meshing is one of the most important parts of the simulation. The type of mesh, that chosen for this system is
Physics-Controlled and its size is normal.

Figure 3: Schematic Meshing of Geometry

3. Results and Discussion
After performing all of the above steps, in two different studies, one of them is stable in which the speed equations
are solved, for another study, the mass transfer equations are solved time-dependent.
3.1. Results in Feed Media
𝑚
As shown in Fig.4 The speed value in the middle of the stream is about 0.35 . In the left sides of the flow, the
𝑠
𝑚
surface flow rate value is about 0 on the outer surface of the membrane and the inner surface of the pipe.
𝑠

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Figure 4: 3D Contour of speed in the Feed area

In Fig 5, it is assumed that the flow of current from the outer surface of the membrane only contains Extracellular
Polymeric Substances (EPS). On the outer surface of the membrane, increasing concentration is observed.
𝑚𝑜𝑙
According to the Fig 5, the highest amount of concentration is observed on membrane surface (about 13 ). By
𝑚3
increasing the distance from the membrane surface, the concentration decreases logarithmically, and at the end of
the boundary layer of Concentration Polarization, the concentration is equal to the concentration of Fluid Mass
𝑚𝑜𝑙
(about 12.5 ).
𝑚3

Figure 5: Increasing the concentration of EPS on the outer surface of the membrane
In Figure 6, it is assumed that the flow through the outer surface of the membrane only contains Soluble Microbial
Products (SMP). On the outer surface of the membrane, increasing concentration is observed. Concentration is
𝑚𝑜𝑙
observed on the membrane surface is approximately 3.09 . By increasing the distance from the membrane
𝑚3
surface, the concentration decreases. and at the end of the boundary layer of Concentration Polarization, the
𝑚𝑜𝑙
concentration is equal to the concentration of Fluid Mass (about 3 ).
𝑚3

Figure 6: Increasing the concentration of SMP on the outer surface of the membrane

3.2. Results in Porous Media (Membrane)

In Fig 7, it is assumed that the flow of current from inside of the membrane only contains Extracellular Polymeric
Substances (EPS). On the inner surface of the membrane, increasing concentration is observed. According to the Fig
𝑚𝑜𝑙
7, the highest amount of concentration is observed on membrane surface (about 500 ). By increasing the distance
𝑚3
from the membrane surface, the concentration decreases logarithmically, and at the end of the boundary layer of
𝑚𝑜𝑙
Concentration Polarization, the concentration is equal to the concentration of Fluid Mass (about 0 ).
𝑚3

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Figure 7: Decreasing the concentration of EPS on the inner surface of the membrane
In Fig. 8, it is assumed that the flow through the inner surface of the membrane only contains Soluble Microbial
Products (SMP). On the inner surface of the membrane, increasing concentration is observed. Concentration is
𝑚𝑜𝑙
observed on the membrane surface is approximately 125 . By increasing the distance from the membrane surface,
𝑚3
the concentration decreases. and at the end of the boundary layer of Concentration Polarization, the concentration is
𝑚𝑜𝑙
equal to the concentration of Fluid Mass (about 0 ).
𝑚3

Figure 8: Decreasing the concentration of SMP on the inner surface of the membrane

Figure 9: Effect of Feed Concentration on Output Flux

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4. Conclusion
In this study, the simulation of fouling of extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) and soluble microbial products
(SMP) was performed using Comsolmultiphysics software, and the results were compared. It was found that EPSs
and SMPs, although seemingly similar, but they are different. It was also found that among the biological materials,
𝑚
EPSs play the main role in membrane fouling. In the case of feed speed equal to 3 and feed pressure of 2 bar, and
𝑠
feed concentration of 5000 ppm, As shown in Fig.9 the green graph is obtained. Which indicates a drop in output
flux over a period of 4500 seconds, that indicating fouling in the membrane.In the absence of fouling, the fluid
passes through the membrane hardly, and the output flux is reduced. The blue graph is related to the feed
concentration of 1000 ppm, and the red graph is related to the feed concentration of 10000 ppm. These graphs
represent the reduction of the flux, or the membrane biofouling phenomenon. If the concentration increases, the
output flux will decrease. Because more concentration will result in more fouling.

References
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International water Assosiation, London, 2000.
2. Baker, R.W., Membrane Technology and applications. John Wilwy and Sons, Ltd, United Kingdom, 2004.
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Membrane in Submerged Membrane Bioreactor with ANSYS FLUENT Software, Applied Research
Journal, pp:459-466, 2016.
4. Kazemi, M.A., Soltanieh, M., Yazdanshenas, M., Mathematical modeling of crossflow microfiltration of
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