A ceramic membrane bioreactor (MBR) demonstration plant is to be built at Singapore’s Jurong Water Reclamation Plant following the signing of an agreement between the country’s water agency, PUB, and Meiden Singapore (MSL), a subsidiary of Meidensha of Japan.
MSL will also establish an research and development centre and assembly factory for ceramic membrane units in Singapore, as well as a facility for development, production and after-sales service in Asia. MSL will also be the regional headquarters for Meidensha water business in Asia.
The MBR demonstration plant will treat and recycle industrial used water, and construction is expected to complete by August 2013. The one-year demonstration study will focus on process optimization.
The plant will be capable of treating 1 MIGD (4,550 m³/d)) of industrial wastewater with high chemical oxygen demand (COD) . The reclamation of high COD industrial used water has conventionally been considered difficult.
This project aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of Meiden’s processing system by combining the use of the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) technology and Meiden’s ceramic MBR system in achieving energy savings and a consistent high-quality output of recycled water.
UASB, a biological process, can remove COD efficiently while the ceramic membrane, which has a longer lifespan than conventional membranes, can produce a stable water supply for recycling purposes. Together, they can potentially result in more energy and cost savings in the treatment of industrial used water.
This collaboration stems from an MOU signed in 2010, since when MSL has been conducting verification tests for the MBR system in PUB’s Ulu Pandan Water Reclamation Plant. Following satisfactory test results from this test-bedding project, MSL is taking the research one step further by collaborating with PUB to construct a demonstration plant.