Simon Judd
Professor Simon Judd has over 20 years’ experience in teaching the fundamentals of water and wastewater technologies and is author of The MBR Book and Industrial MBRs. Simon's latest book watermaths (3rd ed) is available from the IWA – use code MBRIWAP20 to get 20% off the standard price at checkout.
Contact Simon at simon@juddwater.com.
Despite the benefits offered by MBR technology with respect to the amazingly high water quality produced, it’s hard to get away from the not-unwarranted perception that they are too expensive to buy, use too much energy, and present a whole host of operational problems.
While the academic profession continues to find increasingly expensive analytical instrumentation and more protracted procedures for fractionating and identifying foulants in municipal MBRs, it’s left to practitioners to come up with methods for tackling fouling.
Anyone working in wastewater cannot have failed to have noticed the increasing attention being paid to micropollutants. These are substances capable, we are assured, of wreaking havoc on the environment with potentially significant risk to human health.
There is a debate over whether MBRs are worth the money, when a biotreatment plant with a micro/ultrafiltration polish would suffice. There are all sorts of factors at play here.
I was privileged to attend a defence of a student PhD in the beautiful surroundings of Delft earlier this week. Apart from a rather bizarre protocol to which the university strictly adhered, entailing all examiners dressing as Jedi knights, it was a most agreeable experience.
It is recognised that MBRs − and the immersed configuration (iMBR) in particular − operate more efficiently when fluctuations in loading are reduced. If the option is available, a buffer tank can reduce fluctuations sufficiently to allow more optimal use of the membranes.
