Nutrient removal and disinfection by MBR

Over the past century, human activity has dramatically changed the global nutrient cycles (e.g., eutrophication due to the high nitrogen flux from municipal wastewater), ultimately having a detrimental effect on human health and the Earth’s system dynamics. On the other hand, the global depletion of fresh drinking water supplies has seen the introduction of a variety of wastewater recycling strategies. During the last two decades, membrane bioreactors (MBR) have been widely used in the recycling of municipal and industrial wastewaters. In this chapter, we reviewed recent progress towards the development of MBRs for the enhanced removal and recovery of nutrients from wastewaters, the microbial community for nutrient removal in MBRs, and the challenges associated with the disinfection of MBR effluents. MBRs are a promising strategic option for wastewater recycling and reuse but the elimination/recovery of nutrients and elimination of pathogenic virus in the MBR effluents requires careful consideration.