Wastewater Treatment with Lab-Scale Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs)
- Nymphe
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
At the heart of the NYMPHE project are innovative technologies designed to restore contaminated. To bring these innovations closer to a wider audience, we are launching a dedicated series of articles presenting each technology. In this first edition, we focus on an advanced wastewater treatment solution - Lab-scale Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) - developed by the team from Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW under the leadership of Philippe Corvini.
NYMPHE project partners are developing innovative technologies from advanced wastewater treatment and soil remediation to cutting-edge microbiome modelling. These solutions combine scientific excellence with practical application, addressing some of the most pressing environmental challenges. This technology represents a promising approach to improving the removal of micropollutants from wastewater, offering new possibilities for more effective and sustainable water management.
WASTEWATER TECHNOLOGY: Lab-scale Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs)
Objective: To cultivate stable microbial communities capable of degrading high and low concentrations of multiple pharmaceutical micropollutants in wastewater.
Impact of Technology: This technology enhances wastewater treatment performance by enabling the simultaneous biodegradation of several pharmaceutical contaminants, thereby reducing environmental and health risks associated with pharmaceutical pollution.
Target Pollutants: Ibuprofen, Diclofenac, Enalapril, Caffeine, Atenolol, and Paracetamol.
Technology description:
Lab-scale membrane bioreactors (MBRs) were established to investigate the biodegradation potential of microbial communities under fluctuating concentrations of pharmaceutical pollutants. The MBRs had a volume of 1 L and operated with 400 mL of a modified OECD degradation medium. They were continuously aerated and stirred to maintain optimal growth conditions. Ultrafiltration membranes (pore size 0.08 µm) retained the biomass, with a hydraulic retention time of 38 hours and infinite sludge retention time. This allows to keep the microbial community within the MBR for several weeks to allow them to adapt to the pollutants and degrade them efficiently.
Ambition and Novelty:
The system demonstrates the cultivation of stable microbial communities capable of simultaneously degrading a mixture of high and low concentrated pharmaceuticals (1mg- 100 mg/L). A key novelty is that the adapted microbial communities show efficient biodegradation at both high concentrations and under in situ conditions, which is a significant advancement compared to conventional approaches. Additionally, a novel aspect of this work is maintaining the biomass inside the reactor with infinite sludge retention time, allowing evolutionary processes to occur and enhance the microbial community’s functionality over time.
Beyond State of the Art:
Conventional systems often target lower concentrations and single pollutants. This work advances biodegradation capabilities for multi-compound removal, revealing key microbial players for future bioaugmentation strategies. Using infinite sludge retention enhances microbial adaptation, offering an innovative path to superior pollutant removal.
Results of technology:
The developed lab-scale MBRs successfully cultivated robust microbial communities that achieved significant degradation (30-100%) of key pharmaceutical pollutants even at high and low concentrations under fluctuating conditions. HPLC analysis and microbial sequencing identified specific genera responsible for pollutant degradation, such as Pseudomonas and Sphingobacterium for ibuprofen, caffeine, and paracetamol, and Sphingomonas and Klebsiella for atenolol and enalapril.
This study demonstrates the feasibility of evolving microbial consortia tailored to complex wastewater streams, paving the way for future real-world applications aiming at the efficient removal of multiple pharmaceutical contaminants from wastewater and improving environmental safety.
Speaker: Prof. Dr. Philippe Corvini, Head of the Institute for Ecopreneurship at the School of Life Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW)
Interviewer:Dr Agnieszka Sznyk, President of the Board, The Institute of Innovation and Responsible Development (INNOWO)
In our Technology Brochure, we present 10 solutions that are currently under development:
4 wastewater treatment technologies
3 Soil remediation technologies
3 methods for modeling the microbiome
Read the full technology description: https://www.nympheproject.eu/media
Nymphe (New Systemic Bioremediation of Contaminated Habitats and Environment) project
Project funded by the European Union
Grant agreement number: 101060625
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