Whey, produced in large quantities during cheese production, is a rapidly fermentable high strength wastewater characterized by a high biodegradability and low alkalinity. In this study, a lab-scale cross-flow anaerobic membrane bioreactor was used to address the commonly experienced difficulties such as unstable reactor performance and unexpected biomass losses when treating whey wastewater with conventional anaerobic reactors. The anaerobic membrane bioreactor provided a stable treatment performance, i.e. more than 90% chemical oxygen demand removal, and moderate membrane fluxes between 8 and 11 L m⁻² h⁻¹ could be obtained, applying a low cross-flow velocity of about 0.5 m s⁻¹. Short term critical flux tests revealed that higher fluxes up to 36 L m⁻² h⁻¹ are possible at elevated cross-flow velocities and/or reduced mixed liquor suspended solids concentrations. Sludge filterability indicated by capillary suction time and specific resistance to filtration deteriorated throughout the study. Chemical cleaning efficiency gradually decreased, indicating irreversible membrane fouling during long term operation.

乳清在干酪生产过程中大量产生，是一种可快速发酵的高强度废水，其特征在于具有高生物降解性和低碱度。在这项研究中，使用实验室规模的错流厌氧膜生物反应器来解决通常遇到的困难，例如在使用常规厌氧反应器处理乳清废水时，反应器性能不稳定和意外的生物量损失。厌氧膜生物反应器提供了稳定的处理性能，即去除了超过90％的化学需氧量，并且在大约0.5 m s的低横流速度下，可得到8至11 L m ^-2 h ^-1之间的中等膜通量。^-1。短期临界通量测试显示，最大通量高达36 L m在升高的错流速度和/或降低的混合液悬浮固体浓度下，可能会产生^-2 h ^-1。在整个研究过程中，毛细管抽吸时间和对过滤的比阻力表明了污泥的可过滤性。化学清洗效率逐渐降低，表明长期运行过程中不可逆的膜污染。