Patent ID: 8147700

Claim:
A wastewater treatment method for treating wastewater comprising: providing a treatment chamber having an effluent outlet; placing the wastewater to be treated in the treatment chamber; providing a filtration membrane spanning the effluent outlet; providing a pair of electrodes in the treatment chamber separate from the filtration member so as to be in communication with the wastewater; electrochemically treating the wastewater in the treatment chamber by applying an electrical potential difference between the electrodes such that one of the electrodes functions as an anode and one of the electrodes functions as a cathode; biologically treating the wastewater in said treatment chamber with biodegrading bacteria between the electrodes simultaneously with the electrochemical treatment by maintaining the applied electrical potential difference below a prescribed limit which would inhibit growth of the biodegrading bacteria; and subsequently filtering the electrochemically and biologically treated wastewater through the filtration membrane in the treatment chamber by inducing a flow of fluid in the wastewater out of the treatment chamber through the filtration membrane to the effluent outlet of the treatment chamber.