Influence of specific cathode surface area on an

anaerobic electrochemical membrane bioreactor

(AnEMBR) performance

Raghavulu Sapireddy, Krishna Katuri, Yuanlie Yu, Zhiping Lai, Er

Qiang Li, Sigurdur T. Thoroddsen and Pascal E. Saikaly*

The 3rd European Meeting of the International Society for

Microbial Electrochemistry and Technology
EU-ISMET 2016

Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

September 26-28
 Background

Electrochemical Membrane Bioreactor

Permeate (N & P: Irrigation)

Dual function
True integration of MEC with
MBR (Katuri et al., 2014)
Advantages of EMBR
1. HFM configuration
Power source

increases packing
density
2. In-situ cleaning due to
Electro-catalytic and scouring effect of H2 gas
porous Nickle hollow bubbles
fiber membrane Specific cathode surface area
(SCSA) needs to be optimized
for practical application of
Wastewater (Organics, N, P) EMBR
 Objectives

The objectives of this study were:

1. The effect of SCSA on EMBR performance in terms of

wastewater treatment, gas production, energy recovery
and fouling
2. The influence of SCSA on gas bubble size generated at the
cathode surface, and how this in turn affects membrane
scouring
 Experimental Approach

EMBR Operation:
Six identical single chamber tubular EMBRs were operated in
parallel under the same conditions, but with varying SCSA

2 m2/m3 4 m2/m3 8 m2/m3

Analyses:
HPLC (acetate); GC (gas composition); transmembrane pressure (TMP)
and SEM for biofouling
High speed camera (Phantom v2511): to measures gas bubble size
and rate of evolution on the cathode surface. This camera captures
1,000,000 frames per second (fps)
Maximum current density at each batch

5.26 0.36 mS
5.19 0.58 mS

8m2/m3
2.06 0.62 mS

4m2/m3

2m2/m3

After cleaning
 Total biogas composition

2m2/m3
4m2/m3
8m2/m3

SCSA influenced the composition of biogas:

i. 2 and 4 m2/m3 EMBR: more than 20% methane
ii. 8m2/m3 EMBR: less than 10% methane
Acetate removal

8m2/m3
4m2/m3
2m2/m3
Size of gas bubbles on Ni-HFM

2m2/m3
4m2/m3
8m2/m3
 SEM and TMP measurements

2m2/m3
4m2/m3
8m2/m3

2 m2/m3 4 m2/m3 8 m2/m3

 Conclusions

This study revealed that SCSA influenced EMBR performance as well

as membrane biofouling and gas bubble size

Higher gas production and H2 evolution rate was observed for 8

m2/m3 EMBRs

Higher acetate removal for 8 m2/m3 EMBRs

Significantly lower TMP was observed for 8 m2/m3 EMBRs

 Acknowledgements

Supervisor: Prof. Pascal E. Saikaly

Collaborators: Dr. Krishna Katuri, Dr. Qiang Li, Prof. Zhiping Lai and
Prof. Sigurdur T. Thoroddsen

Funding: KAUST Center Competitive Funding

Thank you

Questions?