Figure 1.

Membrane distillation bioreactor (MDBR) performance and environmental variables of an MDBR over 202 days of operation. (a) Values of flux (LMH, ▪) are plotted on the primary vertical axis; total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency (%, ▴) and total nitrogen (TN) removal efficiency (%, ×) are plotted on the secondary axis. (b) pH (♦), dissolved oxygen (DO) (mg l⁻¹, ▪), biomass (g l⁻¹, ×) are plotted on the primary vertical axis, and conductivity (mS cm⁻¹, ▴) on the secondary axis. (c) TN (mg l⁻¹, ▴) and soluble extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) (mg l⁻¹, ×) are plotted on the primary axis while TOC (mg l⁻¹, ▪) and bound EPS (mg l⁻¹, *) are plotted on the secondary axis. The pH was adjusted from the 106th day onwards (dash line).