Ruihui Chen, Lixiu Shi, Xinsen Li, Hongming Yang, Sheng Xiang, Mohd Fadhil MD Din, Eli Hendrik Sanjaya, Lu Peng, Zhengwang Wu, Chengcheng Lin, Hong Chen
Membrane fouling remains a critical bottleneck limiting the application of anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) for high-strength refractory organic wastewater treatment. In this study, a lab-scale submerged anaerobic ceramic membrane bioreactor (AnCMBR) coupled with a continuous stirred-tank reactor (CSTR) was operated continuously for 254 days to investigate the fouling characteristics, mechanisms, and cleaning strategies of ceramic membrane during treatment of practical swine wastewater. Transmembrane pressure (TMP) reached 25 kPa after 120 days of operation with an average rise rate of 0.24 kPa/d, showing good antifouling performance of the ceramic membrane. Three-Dimensional Excitation-Emission Matrix fluorescence spectroscopy identified tryptophan-like proteins as primary cake layer foulants. A combined physical (high-pressure washing, backwashing) and chemical (2 M NaOH + 0.2 % NaClO) cleaning strategy achieved a maximum of 86.7 % flux recovery ratio (FRR). The post-cleaning membrane showed a shortened fouling cycle, in which TMP reached the critical value in 48 days with a rise rate of 0.45 kPa/d. The proportion of intrinsic membrane resistance (11.3 %) caused by irreversible pore blocking was higher than that in a new membrane (6.5 %), indicating insufficient mitigation of irreversible fouling by the current cleaning strategy. For Proteobacteria, Comamonadaceae and Candidatus Competibacter secrete soluble microbial products (SMP) to enhance microbial adhesion to the membrane surface; this aligns with reports of Comamonadaceae-related genera and Candidatus Competibacter producing extracellular substances that mediate biofilm matrix consolidation. This work provides a basis for analyzing the fouling mechanism of ceramic membranes and optimizing cleaning strategies in the process of treating swine wastewater using AnCMBR. © 2026 Elsevier Ltd.
Key Laboratory of Dongting Lake Aquatic Eco-Environmental Control and Restoration of Hunan Province, School of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China; School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China; School of Electrical & Information Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, 410004, China; Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Skudai, 81310, Malaysia; Chemistry Department, Universitas Negeri Malang, 65145, Indonesia
