Special Issue "Membranes in Water Purification"

Guest Editor
Dr. Long Duc Nghiem
School of Civil Mining and Environmental Engineering, University of Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
Website: http://www.uow.edu.au/~longn/
E-Mail: longn@uow.edu.au
Phone: +61 2 4221 4590
Fax: +61 2 4221 3238
Interests: NF/RO membranes; membrane fouling and autopsy study; non-potable and indirect potable water reuse; membrane bioreactors (MBRs); membrane extraction; polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs)

Dear Colleaguers,

Innovative membrane separation processes using recent advances in materials science, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and process engineering will play a significant role in addressing the major global challenges associated with both water scarcity and the provision of sustainable, cost effective and energy efficient potable water supply. In water and wastewater treatment, the membrane is utilised as a physical barrier that is permeable to water but not the contaminants of concern. Membrane technology offers a range of reliable water and wastewater treatment options with the advantages of simplicity, robustness, efficiency, low chemical consumption and low cost.

This special issue offers a scientific forum for membrane researchers and practitioners to disseminate their latest innovation on the fabrication of membrane materials and development of membrane processes for water purification applications. We welcome any research work or critical review addressing the use of membrane technology for water and wastewater treatment. Articles dealing with the removal of specific contaminants, novel membrane materials, membrane fouling and cleaning, and energy efficient membrane systems are of particular interest to this special issue.

Topics of specific interest include:

• water and wastewater treatment processes
• membrane fabrication
• membrane bioreactors
• membrane based water and energy integration systems
• power generation with pressure retarded osmosis
• novel membrane processes
• membrane filtration for the improvement of public health
• membrane based dewatering processes in food processing applications
• membrane based treatment processes

Dr. Long Duc Nghiem
Guest Editor

Submission

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. Papers will be published continuously (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as 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 refereed through a 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 quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. For the first couple of issues the Article Processing Charge (APC) will be waived for well-prepared manuscripts. English correction and/or formatting fees of 250 CHF (Swiss Francs) will be charged in certain cases for those articles accepted for publication that require extensive additional formatting and/or English corrections.

• water reuse
• desalination
• water and wastewater treatment
• energy
• food
• health
• novel materials

Type of Paper: Article
Title: Ammonia Removal from Aqueous Solution by Membrane Distillation
Author: Tuan Duong
Affiliation: Research Engineer, CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Gate 5 Normanby Road, Clayton VIC 3168, Australia; E-Mail: Tuan.Duong@csiro.au
Abstract: Environmental regulation, increased pressure on water resources and rising cost for wastewater discharges make wastewater treatment for recycling an essential investment for many industries. Ammonia is a major pollutant in many industrial and agricultural wastewaters and its elimination is essential for wastewater to be reused or meeting local discharge standards. In this study, the removal of ammonia from dilute aqueous solution has been studied using sweep gas and vacuum membrane distillation (SGMD and VMD). Factors that affect the separation process such as feed and air flow rates, vacuum degree and feed temperature have been investigated. Overall mass transfer coefficients (Kov) were calculated and the results indicated that Kov for VMD was higher than that for SGMD under similar operation conditions. Overall ammonia mass transfer coefficients up to 12.06 × 10-5 and 5.63 × 10-5 m/s can be achieved for VMD and SGMD respectively. The ammonia removal efficiency was enhanced by increasing sweep gas flow rate or decreasing downstream pressure.
Keywords: membrane distillation; ammonia removal; sweep gas MD; vacuum MD

Type of Paper: Review
Title: Microbial Relevant Fouling in Membrane Bioreactors: Influencing Factors, Characterization, and Fouling Control
Author: Bing Wu
Affiliation: Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Innovation Centre, 637723 Singapore, Singapore; E-Mail: WuBing@ntu.edu.sg
Abstract: Microorganisms in membrane bioreactors (MBRs) play important roles on degradation of organic/inorganic substances in the wastewater, while, microbial deposition/growth and microbial product accumulation on membranes potentially induce membrane fouling. Normally, there are needs to characterize membrane foulants and to identify their relations to the evolution of membrane fouling in order to figure out a suitable fouling control method in MBRs. This review summarized the factors in MBRs that influence microbial behaviors (community compositions, physical properties, and microbial products). The state-of-the-art techniques to characterize biofoulants were reported. The strategies controlling microbial relevant fouling were discussed and the future studies on membrane fouling mechanisms in MBRs were proposed.