A review of Membrane and its application in the treatment of Food Industry wastewaters

The worldwide energy need has been increasing exponentially, the reserves of fossil fuels have been decreasing, and the combustion of fossil fuels has serious negative effects on environment because of CO2 emission. For these reasons, many researchers have been working on the exploration of new sustainable energy sources that could substitute fossil fuels. The Membrane process offers the ideal solution for wastewater reuse applications, producing high quality effluent suitable for direct reuse in a single step process.This process provides significant advantages over conventional technologies where wastewater must be treated by a multi-step process prior to reuse. The development of electrically conducting membranes will control fouling and separation properties in the treatment of industrial effluent by adjusting surface charge. There is a real awareness that membrane technology will have a vital energy and environmental role to play in the food industry in the next ten years. Membrane Bioreactors (MBRs) can be broadly defined as systems integrating biological degradation of waste products with membrane filtration. They have proven quite effective in removing organic and inorganic contaminants as well as biological entities from wastewater. Advantages of the MBR include good control of biological activity, high quality effluent free of bacteria and pathogens, smaller plant size, and higher organic loading rates. Current applications include water recycling in buildings, wastewater treatment for small communities. The purpose of this paper is to provide a short but reasonably comprehensive introduction to the membrane application in the treatment of Food Industry wastewaters.

Keywords:

membrane filtration , food industry wastewater , membrane bioreactor