In-situ Revitalizing End-of-Life MBR Membranes via a Curtain-Type Dynamic Membrane Process

Membrane bioreactors (MBR), an industrial mainstay with over 15,000 installations worldwide, face severe sustainability challenges from frequent membrane replacement, generating over 500,000 tons of waste annually. Dynamic membranes, a promising alternative, are impeded in large-scale implementation by inherent issues of conventional flat-sheet designs, such as uneven flow distribution and performance instability. Herein, we propose a novel strategy that directly upcycles end-of-life (EoL) hollow-fiber MBR membranes as substrates for curtain-type dynamic membranes (CTDMs). Our strategy not only provides effective solutions for extending the service life of EoL MBR membranes, but also avoids filtration heterogeneity of dynamic membranes during scale-up through a linear scaling law. The curtain-type substrate layer rapidly forms a biofilm and attains stable effluent quality (turbidity < 5 NTU) within 10 minutes. Exposing only 5% of the internal substrate surface for CTDM fabrication restores performance comparable to that of new MBR membranes while meeting discharge standards. Life-cycle assessment (LCA) reveals a 1,070-fold reduction in carbon emissions (0.0025 vs. 2.67 kg CO2 m-2) and 99.9% lower environmental costs (0.0072 vs. 7.81 USD m-2) compared to traditional membrane replacement. Scaling up this approach could mitigate 441 kt of CO2 in China alone by 2035. This approach concurrently addresses two global crises, accumulating plastic waste from spent membranes and escalating energy costs of water treatment. This dataset provides the source data for all main text figures, including raw measurements, duplicate experimental results, and the processed data used to generate plots in this article. All data necessary to verify and reproduce the findings are included.