AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP026090047
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Effects of aeration position on hydrodynamics and membrane fouling in the membrane tank of an integrated wastewater treatment system

Zhi Zheng1,2,3† ,  Yipeng Xuan2† ,  Peng Wang2* ,  Wentao Sun2,4 ,  Minrui Liu2 ,  Qiaorui Si2 ,  Daolin Du1*
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1 Department of Environmental Ecology Research Institute, School of the Environment and Safety Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
2 Research Center of Fluid Machinery Engineering & Technology, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
3 Department of Water Science, School of Water, Energy and Environment, Cranfield University, Cranfield, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom
4 Shandong Engineering Research Center for High-efficiency Energy Storage and Hydrogen Energy Utilization, School of Nuclear Science, Energy and Power Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
†These authors contributed equally to this work.
AJWEP, 026090047 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP026090047
Received: 24 February 2026 | Revised: 20 March 2026 | Accepted: 24 March 2026 | Published online: 14 May 2026
© 2026 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

Aeration conditions are critical for controlling hydrodynamics and membrane fouling in membrane bioreactors (MBRs), yet the role of aeration position in integrated sewage treatment systems remains poorly quantified. This study investigates an integrated anaerobic–anoxic–oxic–MBR membrane tank using a computational fluid dynamics-population balance model with non-Newtonian rheology of the mixed liquor. Aeration positions 5–45 mm below the membrane module were evaluated for their effects on flow structure, bubble distribution, and membrane-surface shear. The model was validated against measured bubble rise velocities, with a maximum relative error of 4.67%. The results demonstrate that aeration position strongly governs the formation of high-velocity cores, low-velocity zones, and gas holdup distribution, and thus the spatial patterns of turbulent kinetic energy and gas–liquid shear on the membrane surface. Increasing the aeration position to an intermediate level enhances bottom turbulence and mixing, reduces the fraction of low-velocity regions, and alleviates sludge deposition, whereas excessively high aeration positions lead to non-uniform velocity and gas distribution and aggravated local membrane fouling. Under practical operating conditions, an intermediate aeration position also helps control local sludge concentration and floc size, thereby mitigating pore blocking development. Overall, the findings highlight aeration position as a key yet often overlooked design and operational parameter for optimizing integrated MBR performance.

Keywords
Membrane bioreactor
Non-Newtonian mixed liquor
Membrane fouling
Aeration position
Bubble dynamics
Funding
This study was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFC3204603), the Senior Talents Fund of Jiangsu University (Project No. 20JDG39), and the Postgraduate Research and Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX24_4002).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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