Assessment of activated sludge, membrane bioreactors and vertical flow wetlands for upgrading sewage treatment works

This paper demonstrates that utilising a vertical flow (VF) wetland after a conventional activated sludge (CAS) delivers equivalent or better effluent quality to a membrane bioreactor (MBR) based on a side-by-side pilot trial. The CAS was operated under the solids retention times (SRT) of 6, 12, and 20 days, with the effluent from each pilot plant fed onto a soil aquifer treatment column to better understand their water reuse application potential. Results showed an upgraded CAS + VF system could deliver effluents with median values of 34 mgO2.L–1, 7 mg.L–1 and 1.9 mg.L–1 for organics, solids and ammonia nitrogen, respectively, which were statistically similar to those from the MBR. Water reuse standards were achieved by the upgraded system for most parameters, with the exception of total coliform removal. The upgraded system delivered superior metal removal when compared to the CAS. An economic analysis showed upgrading a CAS with a VF wetland was more favourable than investing in an MBR system for example works of 5000 and 50,000 population equivalents if the VF system was operated at hydraulic loading rates of 0.03 m.d–1 and 0.08 m.d–1, respectively. This was delivered for a tenth of the carbon footprint of the MBR treatment.