Enhanced dissolved methane recovery and energy-efficient fouling mitigation via membrane vibration in anaerobic membrane bioreactor

• A novel vibrating AnMBR was developed for long-term real DWW treatment . • Combined macro- and nano-particles in the biomass and cake layer were analysed. • Reduced nano-sized particles in supernatant in VAnMBR delayed membrane fouling . • VAnMBR enhanced 11.1–35.0% biogas recovery compared to BSAnMBR. • VAnMBR could save 81.9–94.1% energy of BSAnMBR for fouling control. This work successfully developed a novel vibrating AnMBR (VAnMBR) and investigated its long-term performance, fouling control and energy recovery compared to the conventional biogas-sparging AnMBR (BSAnMBR). The VAnMBR achieved better organics removal compared to the BSAnMBR due to the lower content of biopolymers in its effluents. Moreover, the VAnMBR retarded the early TMP rise to alleviate membrane fouling efficaciously with 49.7%–80.2% lower fouling rates than the BSAnMBR. Reduced amounts of nano-particles were consistently observed in the supernatants of the VAnMBR, revealing its benefits to restrict fouling sources for better fouling control. Importantly, the VAnMBR could save 81.9%–94.1% energy of the BSAnMBR and enhance 11.1%–35.0% biogas recovery resulting from minimised dissolved methane, inducing more net energy production during wastewater treatment. The favourable performance of the VAnMBR makes it a promising technology to replace the conventional wastewater treatment plant as a next-generation resource recovery facility.