page_title: Membrane bioreactor
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Membrane bioreactor / Overview
caption_attribution_description: English: Author: Pierre Le Clech
context_page_description: Membrane bioreactor is the combination of a membrane process like microfiltration or ultrafiltration with a biological wastewater treatment process, the activated sludge process. It is now widely used for municipal and industrial wastewater treatment.
context_section_description: When used with domestic wastewater, MBR processes can produce effluent of high quality enough to be discharged to coastal, surface or brackish waterways or to be reclaimed for urban irrigation. Other advantages of MBRs over conventional processes include small footprint, easy retrofit and upgrade of old wastewater treatment plants.
  It is possible to operate MBR processes at higher mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) concentrations compared to conventional settlement separation systems, thus reducing the reactor volume to achieve the same loading rate.
  Two MBR configurations exist: internal/submerged, where the membranes are immersed in and integral to the biological reactor; and external/sidestream, where membranes are a separate unit process requiring an intermediate pumping step.
  Recent technical innovation and significant membrane cost reduction have enabled MBRs to become an established process option to treat wastewaters. As a result, the MBR process has now become an attractive option for the treatment and reuse of industrial and municipal wastewaters, as evidenced by their constantly rising numbers and capacity. The current MBR market has been estimated to value around US$216 million in 2006 and to rise to US$363 million by 2010.
  Based on the estimated global MBR market of US$838.2 million in 2011, the MBR is projected to grow at an average rate of 22.4%, reaching a total market size of US$3.44 billion in 2018.
  The global membrane bioreactor market is expected to grow in the near future because of various driven factors for instance scarcity of water worldwide, which makes wastewater reclamation necessary. This will be further aggravated by climate change. The growing environmental concerns over industrial wastewater disposal along with the declining fresh water resources across developing economies also accounts for the demand of MBR technology. Population growth, urbanization and industrialization will further complement the business outlook. Contingent on their composition, these changes can be demanding on natural resources and pose unsustainable challenges for environment. Therefore, membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology is regarded as a key element of advanced wastewater treatment and reuse schemes and it is focused to grow towards a sustainable water management across the municipal and industry sectors.
  
  However, high initial investments and operational expenditure may hamper the global membrane bioreactor market. In addition, technological restraints including recurrence of fouling in the MBRs is likely to hinder production adoption. Ongoing R&D progressions toward increasing output and minimizing sludge formation is anticipated to fuel industry growth.
  Membrane bioreactors can be used to reduce the footprint of an activated sludge sewage treatment system by removing some of the liquid component of the mixed liquor. This leaves a concentrated waste product that is then treated using the activated sludge process.
caption: Simple schematic describing the MBR process
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