One-year operation of single household membrane bioreactor plant

This paper evaluates the results from a 12-month study of a single-household wastewater treatment plant with submerged membrane module (household MBR plant) that was monitored from winter to winter season. The samples were collected at least twice a week (an intensive research study at real conditions). The household MBR (membrane bioreactor) plant was linked to a family house with 4 residents. In this study the treatment plant was fed by real domestic wastewater. In contrast to most other experiments with small-scale WWTPs (wastewater treatment plants) carried out in laboratories and facilities of large municipal WWTPs (polygons) which guarantee stable and flexible operation but the characteristics of wastewater and activated sludge in these studies usually differ from those that occur in real small-scale/single-household WWTPs. One of the main goals of this research was to test the response of membrane and activated sludge to different conditions during real operation of the household MBR plant, such as a long period of zero influent/load, or vice versa the presence of a large amount of concentrated wastewater (e.g. during the weekend), very low winter temperatures (water temperature below 5–6°C), high pH values, and the presence of domestic detergents.