Review of MBBR models for treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater

The conventional waste water treatment technologies are based on processes like Activated sludge process, Extended aeration, Submerged aerobic fixed film reactor, Trickling filter or Rotating Biological Contactor. However, in the recent years there has been a shift towards adoption of Sequential batch reactor (SBR) and Moving bed biological reactor (MBBR). This paper reviews various MBBR models available in the Indian market for the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater and their effect on reactor volume and media quantity. The paper concludes that PSA/TSA ratio of MBBR media available in the Indian market is yet not competitive with the media available in the international market and therefore there is a scope to develop models with more efficient PSA/TSA ratio. The study also highlights that the future research studies may be focussed on the actual surface area and PSA/TSA ratio claimed by Indian manufacturers. The claim is ambiguous since the manufacturers generally do not undertake any quality certification on the design parameters from recognised laboratories and institutions.