Cost assessment on the application of hollow fibre membrane module in wastewater treatment system in small scale textile industry

Abstract

Dwindling high-quality water source due to several factor including high water demand from the textile industry become one of the major problems around the world including Malaysia. Membrane technology is can be used to treat wastewater for reuse purposes so it will reduce the demand for fresh water for its operation and also maintain the environment. This paper aims to present the cost estimation model to calculate the overhead cost of implementing the membrane module to treat wastewater effluent from the textile industry in Malaysia. Activity-based costing (ABC) method has utilised as a cost estimation technique due to its ability to determine the accurate overhead cost based on the volume of resources consumed for each particular activities compared to the traditional costing method. This model is comparing two type of membrane modules; series hollow fiber membrane module (HFMM) and submerged membrane bioreactor (MBR)in term of the total overhead cost and other benefits in order to improve the overall productivity of the system and future reduce the overall operating cost of the system. The study shows that membrane replacement and backwashing activities contribute to increased the cost of operation and it is recommended further to investigate more on this problem.