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Membranes
Special Issues
Development of Antifouling Ultrafiltration Membranes
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Development of Antifouling Ultrafiltration Membranes

A special issue of Membranes (ISSN 2077-0375). This special issue belongs to the section "Membrane Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2022) | Viewed by 1716

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alexandr V. Bildyukevich

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Physical Organic Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 13 Surganov Str., 220072 Minsk, Belarus
Interests: ultrafiltration; microfiltration; nanofiltration; gas separation; hollow fiber membranes; membrane contactors; reinforced hollow fiber membranes; integrated membrane processes
Dr. Tatiana Plisko

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Physical Organic Chemistry, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Minsk, Belarus
Interests: polymer membrane; polymer membrane modification; membrane separation processes; ultrafiltration; pervaporation; nanofiltration; gas separation; thin film composite membranes; biodegradable polymers; smart membranes; smart polymers; mixed matrix membranes; polymer solutions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, consumption of fresh water has been increased due to the population growth and rapid industry development. Pressure-driven separation processes are commonly used membrane processes for surface water pretreatment and wastewater reclamation/reuse including micro-, ultra-, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis. However, membrane fouling is known to be a severe unsolved problem that prevents sustainable membrane application and leads to the increased energy demand, flux decline, deterioration of separation performance and decrease of membrane lifetime. Membrane fouling reduces the efficiency of the separation process and significantly increases the cost of separation. This is because of one or a combination of the following reasons; i.e., decrease of the flux through the membrane due to the formation of a gel-like diffusion barrier layer, biodegradation of the membrane-forming polymer and materials of the membrane module, the formation of concentrated populations of pathogenic microorganisms on the membrane surface, increasing energy consumption, the need for frequent chemical cleaning, reducing the usage time of the membrane and contamination of the filtrate. The costs for cleaning consisting of costs for water, cleaning chemicals and wastewater are together with electricity by far the most dominating operation expenditures of membrane plants. The main methods to prevent fouling before its occurrence are pre-treatment of the feed streams, chemical modification to improve the anti-fouling properties of a membrane, and optimization of the operational conditions. Membrane surface properties such as chemical structure, hydrophilicity, roughness and charge are known to determine separation performance and fouling resistance. An effective strategy for suppression of membrane fouling is to minimize attractive interactions between the membrane surface and components of the feed by chemical modification of the membrane surface, which can be implemented by increasing membrane surface charge to promote electrostatic repulsion and hydrophilization to increase water–surface interaction.

We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the present Special Issue. It focuses on the development of antifouling membranes using various membrane modification strategies and novel approaches of membrane preparation. The Special Issue aims to cover the latest progress in the design of antifouling membrane surfaces including membrane polymer modification (pre-modification), blending of the membrane polymer with a modifying agent (additive) and surface modification after membrane preparation (post-modification) (grafting, coating, immobilization).

In this Special Issue, original research articles and reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • Development of antifouling membranes;
  • Membrane modification;
  • Modification using polyelectrolytes;
  • Modification using block-copolymers;
  • Modification using nanoparticles;
  • Hydrophilization of membrane;
  • Smart membranes;
  • Self-cleaning membranes;
  • Water treatment;
  • Grafting;
  • Coating;
  • Immobilization;
  • Layer-by-layer;
  • Photocatalytic membranes.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Alexandr V. Bildyukevich
Dr. Tatiana V. Plisko
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Membranes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antifouling membrane
  • membrane modification
  • polyelectrolytes
  • block-copolymers
  • hydrophilic additives
  • nanoparticles
  • blending
  • grafting
  • smart self-cleaning membranes
  • water treatment

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

27 pages, 5815 KiB  
Article
Development of High Flux Nanocomposite Polyphenylsulfone/Oxidized Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Membranes for Ultrafiltration Using the Systems with Critical Solution Temperatures
by Tatiana V. Plisko, Katsiaryna S. Burts and Alexandr V. Bildyukevich
Membranes 2022, 12(8), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12080724 - 22 Jul 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1347
Abstract
The study deals with the investigation of the effect of the modification of polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) flat sheet membranes for ultrafiltration using oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNT) in order to enhance membrane permeability and antifouling performance. The effect of O-MWCNT loading to the PPSU-polyethylene [...] Read more.
The study deals with the investigation of the effect of the modification of polyphenylsulfone (PPSU) flat sheet membranes for ultrafiltration using oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (O-MWCNT) in order to enhance membrane permeability and antifouling performance. The effect of O-MWCNT loading to the PPSU-polyethylene glycol (PEG-20,000, Mn = 20,000 g·mol−1)-polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP K-30, Mn = 40,000 g·mol−1)-N-methy-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) colloid systems on the phase state and viscosity was studied. It was found that PPSU-PEG-20,000-PVP K-30-O-MWCNT-NMP colloid systems feature a gel point (T = 35–37 °C) and demixing temperature (T = 127–129 °C) at which two bulk phases are formed and a polymer system delaminates. According to the study of the phase state and viscosity of these colloid systems, a method for the preparation of high flux PPSU membranes is proposed which includes processing of the casting solution at the temperature higher than gel point (40 °C) and using a coagulation bath temperature lower than gel point (25 °C) or lower than demixing temperature (40 °C and 70 °C). Membrane structure, topology and hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and water contact angle measurements. The effect of coagulation bath temperature and O-MWCNT concentration on the membrane separation and antifouling performance in ultrafiltration of human serum albumin and humic acids solutions was studied. It was found that the modification of PPSU ultrafiltration membranes by O-MWCNTs yielded the formation of a thinner selective layer and hydrophilization of the membrane surface (water contact angle decreased from 53–56° for the reference PPSU membrane down to 33° for the nanocomposite membrane with the addition of 0.19 wt.% O-MWCNT). These changes resulted in the increase in membrane flux (from 203–605 L·m−2·h−1 at transmembrane pressure of 0.1 MPa for the reference membrane up to 512–983 L·m−2·h−1 for nanocomposite membrane with the addition of 0.19 wt.% O-MWCNT depending on coagulation bath temperature) which significantly surpasses the performance of PPSU ultrafiltration membranes reported to date while maintaining a high level of human serum albumin rejection (83–92%). It was revealed that nanocomposite membrane demonstrated better antifouling performance (the flux recovery ratio increased from 47% for the reference PPSU membrane up to 62% for the nanocomposite membrane) and higher total organic carbon removal compared to the reference PPSU membrane in humic acids solution ultrafiltration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Development of Antifouling Ultrafiltration Membranes)
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