Chinese traditional medicine wastewater, rich in macromolecule and easy to foam in aerobic biodegradation such as Glycosides, was treated by two identical bench-scale aerobic submerged membrane bioreactors (SMBRs) operated in parallel under the same feed, equipped with the same electronic control backwashing device. One was used as the control SMBR (CSMBR) while the other was dosed with powdered activated carbon powdered activated carbon water treatment(PAC) (PAC-amended SMBR, PSMBR). The backwashing interval was 5 min. One suction period was about 90 min by adjusting preestablished backwashing vacuum and pump frequency. The average flux of CSMBR during a steady periodic state of 24 d (576 h) was 5.87 L/h with average hydraulic residence time (HRT) of 5.97 h and that of PSMBR during a steady periodic state of 30 d (720 h) was 5.85 L/h with average HRT of 5.99 h. The average total chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of CSMBR was 89.29% with average organic loading rate (OLR) at 4.16 kg COD/(m3-d) while that of PSMBR was 89.79% with average OLR at 5.50 kg COD/(m3-d). COD concentration in the effluent of both SMBRs achieved the second level of the general wastewater effluent standard GB8978–1996 for the raw medicine material industry (300 mg/L).activated carbon suppliers in india Hence, SMBR with electronic control backwashing was a viable process for medium- strength Chinese traditional medicine wastewater treatment. Moreover, the increasing rates of preestablished backwashing vacuum, pump frequency, and vacuum and flux loss caused by mixed liquor in PSMBR all lagged compared to those in CSMBR; thus the actual operating time of the PSMBR system without membrane cleaning was extended by up to 1.25 times in contrast with the CSMBR system, and the average total COD removal efficiency of PSMBR was enhanced with higher average OLR.
