relation: https://khub.utp.edu.my/scholars/15234/ title: Effect of membrane properties in a membrane rotating biological contactor for wastewater treatment creator: Waqas, S. creator: Bilad, M.R. creator: Aqsha, A. creator: Yub Harun, N. creator: Ayoub, M. creator: Wirzal, M.D.H. creator: Jaafar, J. creator: Mulyati, S. creator: Elma, M. description: Membrane fouling is a major drawback of almost all pressure-driven membrane processes that limit their widespread application. This study compares the biological and the hydraulic performances of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and polysulfone (PSF) membranes when used as external filtration for polishing of a rotating biological contactor (RBC) effluent and as an integrated part in a membrane rotating biological contactor (MRBC). MRBC is an upgrade of the conventional RBC, in which the disk rotations are used not only to provide biological aeration but also as an inherent mechanism for membrane fouling control. Results showed that high biological performances were achieved irrespective of the membrane materials. The steady-state permeabilities of the membranes in MRBC are higher than external filtration by 92.4 and 19.7 for the PVDF and PSF membrane respectively. In the MRBC, smaller membrane-to-disk gaps and high disk rotational speed improve permeability for both membranes reaching the values of 297 and 173 L/(m2 h bar) for PVDF and PSF membranes, respectively. Full-scale energy consumption projection results show that the MRBC consumes only one-fourth of the energy of a referenced membrane bioreactor. The PVDF membrane outperforms PSF membrane thanks to the effective fouling control that maximize the throughput of a lower intrinsic resistance of the PVDF membrane. It implies that apart from membrane material, other operational parameters can still be optimized to further enhance the MRBC performance. © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. publisher: Elsevier Ltd date: 2021 type: Article type: PeerReviewed identifier: Waqas, S. and Bilad, M.R. and Aqsha, A. and Yub Harun, N. and Ayoub, M. and Wirzal, M.D.H. and Jaafar, J. and Mulyati, S. and Elma, M. (2021) Effect of membrane properties in a membrane rotating biological contactor for wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, 9 (1). ISSN 22133437 relation: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85098706309&doi=10.1016%2fj.jece.2020.104869&partnerID=40&md5=67d59ebfec7a8673daafccf5e87a8db4 relation: 10.1016/j.jece.2020.104869 identifier: 10.1016/j.jece.2020.104869