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Membranes
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Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment
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Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 December 2021) | Viewed by 16655

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Yi-Li Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, No. 1, Univesrsity Rd., Yanchao Dist., Kaohsiung City 824, Taiwan
Interests: membrane separation; fabrication and modification; water treatment; disinfection; torrefaction; renewable energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The stress of freshwater scarcity has become a severe problem worldwide and drives the development of technologies for water recycling and reuse. Among these technologies, membrane separation has received a great amount of attention because of its simple operating procedure, few chemical additions, and broad removal of pollutants of different sizes. However, either for conventional pressure-driven membrane separation (such as nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO)) or for the emerging concentration-driven forward osmosis (FO) processes, the major challenge for practical applications is membrane fouling, which can cause drawbacks by increasing clean frequency and operating cost but reducing membrane life. Therefore, fouling control in the development of membrane technology is crucial, especially for the treatment and recycling of various water sources with complicated matrices.

This Special Issue on “Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment” of the journal Membranes seeks contributions to assess the state-of-the-art and future developments in the field of membrane fouling control. Topics include but are not limited to membrane preparation and modification using new materials, module and reactor design, integration of water treatment processes, and/or membrane operations. Authors are invited to submit their latest results; both original papers and reviews are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Yi-Li Lin
Guest Editor

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 2200 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

  • Membrane separation
  • New membrane materials
  • Fouling mitigation
  • Antifouling
  • Water recycling and reclamation
  • Water and wastewater treatment
  • Integrated water treatment processes
  • Integrated membrane operations

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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2 pages, 174 KiB  
Editorial
Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment
by Yi-Li Lin
Membranes 2022, 12(6), 551; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12060551 - 25 May 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1664
Abstract
The stress of freshwater scarcity has become a severe problem worldwide and drives the development of technologies for water recycling and reuse [...] Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)

Research

Jump to: Editorial

19 pages, 4933 KiB  
Article
Effect of Self-Made TiO2 Nanoparticle Size on the Performance of the PVDF Composite Membrane in MBR for Landfill Leachate Treatment
by Huiya Wang and Keqiang Ding
Membranes 2022, 12(2), 216; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes12020216 - 13 Feb 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3251
Abstract
The pollutant composition of landfill leachate is complex, and pollutant concentrations change greatly. Moreover, landfill leachates can easily penetrate into the soil and eventually pollute the ground water, which can cause environmental pollution and threaten human health. At present, landfill leachate treatment technology [...] Read more.
The pollutant composition of landfill leachate is complex, and pollutant concentrations change greatly. Moreover, landfill leachates can easily penetrate into the soil and eventually pollute the ground water, which can cause environmental pollution and threaten human health. At present, landfill leachate treatment technology is still not mature. In this paper, the A/O-MBR (Anoxic–Aerobic Membrane Bioreactor) process is proposed to treat landfill leachate. To increase the hydrophilicity of the membranes and reduce the pollution of the membranes, the self-made TiO2 nanoparticles were used to modify the ultrafiltration membranes (PVDF-2). Meanwhile, PVDF-2 composite membranes showed the best separation performance. The optimum operating parameters were determined by changing the concentration of the pollutants in the reactor and selecting the dissolved oxygen, pH, and hydraulic residence time. The results show that the optimum operating conditions of MBR are mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) = 3200 mg/L, DO = 1.5–2.5 mg/L in a nitrifying tank, DO = 0–0.5 mg/L in a denitrifying tank, pH = 7–8, and a hydraulic retention time (HRT) = 5 h. To reach the “Discharge Standard of Pollutants for Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants” (GB18918-2002), the effluent of the MBR system further enters into the RO system. This work presents an environmentally friendly synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles and added into PVDF. The addition of self-made TiO2 in PVDF membrane has improved the antifouling performance significantly, which has the potential for the treatment of landfill leachate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)
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14 pages, 3850 KiB  
Article
Influential Mechanism of Natural Organic Matters with Calcium Ion on the Anion Exchange Membrane Fouling Behavior via xDLVO Theory
by Zhun Ma, Lu Zhang, Ying Liu, Xiaosheng Ji, Yuting Xu, Qun Wang, Yongchao Sun, Xiaomeng Wang, Jian Wang, Jianliang Xue and Xueli Gao
Membranes 2021, 11(12), 968; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11120968 - 9 Dec 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3011
Abstract
The fouling mechanism of the anion exchange membrane (AEM) induced by natural organic matter (NOM) in the absence and presence of calcium ions was systematically investigated via the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (xDLVO) approach. Sodium alginate (SA), humic acid (HA), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) [...] Read more.
The fouling mechanism of the anion exchange membrane (AEM) induced by natural organic matter (NOM) in the absence and presence of calcium ions was systematically investigated via the extended Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek (xDLVO) approach. Sodium alginate (SA), humic acid (HA), and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were utilized as model NOM fractions. The results indicated that the presence of calcium ions tremendously aggravated the NOM fouling on the anion exchange membrane because of Ca-NOM complex formation. Furthermore, analysis of the interaction energy between the membrane surface and foulants via xDLVO revealed that short-range acid–base (AB) interaction energy played a significant role in the compositions of interaction energy during the electrodialysis (ED) process. The influence of NOM fractions in the presence of calcium ions on membrane fouling followed the order: SA > BSA > HA. This study demonstrated that the interaction energy was a dominating indicator for evaluating the tendency of anion exchange membranes fouling by natural organic matter. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)
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15 pages, 3039 KiB  
Article
Zwitterionic Polysulfone Copolymer/Polysulfone Blended Ultrafiltration Membranes with Excellent Thermostability and Antifouling Properties
by Dalong Li, Changlu Gao, Xinyue Wang, Gang Wu, Jinghua Yin, Yudong Huang and Xiuhua Sun
Membranes 2021, 11(12), 932; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11120932 - 26 Nov 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2185
Abstract
Membrane fouling has been one of the most important challenges in membrane separation operations. In this study, we report a facile strategy to prepare antifouling polysulfone (PSf) UF membranes by blending amphiphilic zwitterion polysulfone-co-sulfobetaine polysulfone (PSf-co-SBPSf) copolymer. The copolymer chemical structure was characterized [...] Read more.
Membrane fouling has been one of the most important challenges in membrane separation operations. In this study, we report a facile strategy to prepare antifouling polysulfone (PSf) UF membranes by blending amphiphilic zwitterion polysulfone-co-sulfobetaine polysulfone (PSf-co-SBPSf) copolymer. The copolymer chemical structure was characterized by 1HNMR spectroscopy. The PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes with various zwitterionic SBPSf segment contents exhibited better surface hydrophilicity and excellent antifouling ability compared to PSf and PSf/PEG membranes. The significant increase of both porosity and water permeance indicates that the PSf-co-SBPSf has a pore-forming effect. The pure water flux and flux recovery ratio of the PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes were both remarked to improve 286.43 L/m2h and 92.26%, while bovine serum albumin (BSA) rejection remained at a high level (97.66%). More importantly, the water flux and BSA rejection see minimal variance after heat treatment, indicating excellent thermostability. Overall, the PSf/PSf-co-SBPSf blend membranes achieved a comprehensive performance of sustainable hydrophilic, high permeation flux, and remarkable antifouling ability, thus becoming a promising candidate in high-temperature separation application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)
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15 pages, 2076 KiB  
Article
Mitigating Silica Fouling and Improving PPCP Removal by Modified NF90 Using In Situ Radical Graft Polymerization
by Yi-Li Lin, Nai-Yun Zheng, Hao-Yu Gan, An-Xian Chang, Huai-Xuan Luo and Yao-Jie Mao
Membranes 2021, 11(11), 904; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11110904 - 22 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2132
Abstract
This study in-situ modified a commercial nanofiltration membrane, NF90, through the concentration-polymerization-enhanced radical graft polarization method by applying two agents of 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt (SPM) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with different dosages. Surface characterization revealed that the modified membranes became rougher and [...] Read more.
This study in-situ modified a commercial nanofiltration membrane, NF90, through the concentration-polymerization-enhanced radical graft polarization method by applying two agents of 3-sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt (SPM) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) with different dosages. Surface characterization revealed that the modified membranes became rougher and more hydrophilic compared with the pristine membrane. The modified membranes exhibited considerably enhanced separation performance with 5.8–19.6% higher NaCl rejection and 17.2–19.9% higher pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) rejection than the pristine membrane. When treating the feedwater with high silica concentration, the modified membranes exhibited relatively less flux decline with high percentage of reversible fouling, especially the ones modified using a lower monomer concentration (0.01 M SPM and 0.01 M HEMA). Moreover, membrane modification enhanced the PPCP rejection (1.3–5.4%) after silica fouling by mitigating foulant deposition on the membrane surface. The fouling mechanism was confirmed to be intermediate blocking of membrane pores. Therefore, the in-situ modification technique with a low monomer concentration proved to be effective for mitigating silica fouling and improving PPCP rejection, which can be easily performed and cost-effective in practical application. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)
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19 pages, 8774 KiB  
Article
Preparation of Ultrafiltration Membrane by Polyethylene Glycol Non-Covalent Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes: Application for HA Removal and Fouling Control
by Yu Wang, Mengchan Dong, Xinya Xiong, Xiaoli Gai, Jia Zeng, Guirong Luan, Yufei Wang, Yaochen Wu and Jin Guo
Membranes 2021, 11(5), 362; https://doi.org/10.3390/membranes11050362 - 17 May 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3580
Abstract
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) non-covalent-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) membrane were prepared by vacuum filtration. The dispersion and stability of MWCNT non-covalent functionalized with PEG were all improved. TEM characterization and XPS quantitative analysis proved that the use of PEG to non-covalent functionalize MWCNT [...] Read more.
Polyethylene glycol (PEG) non-covalent-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) membrane were prepared by vacuum filtration. The dispersion and stability of MWCNT non-covalent functionalized with PEG were all improved. TEM characterization and XPS quantitative analysis proved that the use of PEG to non-covalent functionalize MWCNT was successful. SEM image analysis confirmed that the pore size of PEG–MWCNT membrane was more concentrated and distributed in a narrower range of diameter. Contact angle measurement demonstrated that PEG non-covalent functionalization greatly enhanced the hydrophilicity of MWCNT membranes. The results of pure water flux showed that the PEG–MWCNT membranes could be categorized into low pressure membrane. PEG-MWCNT membrane had a better effect on the removal of humic acid (HA) and a lower TMP growth rate compared with a commercial 0.01-μm PVDF ultrafiltration membrane. During the filtration of bovine serum albumin (BSA), the antifouling ability of PEG-MWCNT membranes were obviously better than the raw MWCNT membranes. The TMP recovery rate of PEG–MWCNT membrane after cross flushing was 79.4%, while that of raw MWCNT–COOH and MWCNT membrane were only 14.9% and 28.3%, respectively. PEG non-covalent functionalization improved the antifouling ability of the raw MWCNT membranes and reduced the irreversible fouling, which effectively prolonged the service life of MWCNT membrane. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Membrane Fouling Control in Water Treatment)
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