Research progress on electrochemical membrane bioreactor for enhanced wastewater treatment

Abstract

Electrochemical membrane bioreactor(EMBR) is an emerging technology for wastewater treatment. In addition to efficient removal of conventional pollutants, the EMBR has significant advantages in removing micropollutants and pathogenic microbes, alleviating the proliferation of antibiotic resistance genes, controlling membrane fouling and recovering bioenergy and resources, etc. This paper reviews the principle and characteristics of the EMBR,wastewater treatment efficiency, energy and resource recovery, membrane fouling control and technical challenges. In order to promote the industrial application of the EMBR and continuously improve the efficiency of the EMBR for wastewater treatment, it is necessary to develop electrode materials with high conductivity and biocompatibility, and to optimize the reactor configuration and operating conditions in the future research.

Keywords

• membrane bioreactor
• electrochemical
• wastewater treatment
• membrane fouling control
• bioenergy and resource recovery